Objective To investigate the attitudes of Chinese doctors towards the difficulties they have concerning the involvement of patients in decision-making about treatment.
Method We surveyed 1 088 doctors at different levels (70% internal medicine, 22% general surgery, 8% gynecology) from 20 general hospitals and 5 university hospitals covering 25 provinces and cities in China, using a simple questionnaire, which we had developed.
Results A total of 780 doctors returned the questionnaire and of these only 488 (62%) had completed it. The difficulties that doctors were most concerned about focused on lack of time (27%), expressing uncertainties to patients (15%), dealing with patients who have little medical knowledge (13%), eliciting patients’ preferences (12%), and establishing a stable relationship (9%).
Conclusion Increasing their knowledge of patient involvement in making treatment decisions may reinforce appropriate attitudes towards this concept among doctors.
Citation：
ZHANG Mingming,LI Jing,ZHANG Xiaoli,LIU Xuemei,WANG Li,HE Li,Andrew Herxheimer. Doctors’ Perceptions of Difficulties in Patient Involvement in Making Treatment Decisions: Questionnaire Study in China. Chinese Journal of Evidence-Based Medicine, 2006, 06(11): 783-785. doi:
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Zhang MM, Liu XM, He L. Patient value and preference in evidence-based medicine. Chinese Journal of Evidence-Based Medicine, 2004; 10: 707–710.
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Say RE, Thomson R. The importance of patient preferences in treatment decisions-challenges for doctors. BMJ, 2003; 327: 542–545.
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- 1. Guyatt G, Montori V, Devereaux PJ, et al. Patients at the center: in our practice, and in our use of language. ACP J Club, 2004; 140(1): A11–2.
- 2. Zhao MJ. The important reason of doctor-patient relationship tense is highly medical fee. Medicine and Philosophy, 2005; 26 (3): 1–2.
- 3. Gafini A, Charles C, Whelan T. The physician-patient encounter: the physician as a perfect agent for the patient versus the informed treatment decision-making model. Soc Sci Med, 1998; 47(3): 347–354.
- 4. Zhang MM, Liu XM, He L. Patient value and preference in evidence-based medicine. Chinese Journal of Evidence-Based Medicine, 2004; 10: 707–710.
- 5. Say RE, Thomson R. The importance of patient preferences in treatment decisions-challenges for doctors. BMJ, 2003; 327: 542–545.
