The treatment perspectives of physicians, citizens, and state legislators.
This study addresses the dilemma of physicians to act both as an agent of their patients and as an agent of society. We contrasted the perceptions of physicians, citizens at large, and state legislators about 11 topics related to physician decision making regarding the management of care for seriously ill patients. Significant and interpretable differences were found between physicians and citizens, although there were no differences between these two groups and the state legislators. However, even the obtained differences were fewer and smaller than expected. These results suggest that lay, legislative, and medical viewpoints may be less at odds with each other than the literature would suggest, and reaching an accord on at least some aspects of health policy may not be as difficult as generally is assumed.
Department of Management and Policy, College of Business and Public Administration, University of Arizona, Tucson 85721.
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Geller
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Beach
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Connolly
D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001130:Arizona; D001294:Attitude to Health; D016265:Conflict of Interest; D003422:Critical Care / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003625:Data Collection; D003657:Decision Making; D005260:Female; D006291:Health Policy / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D006295:Health Resources / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006302:Health Services Research; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010358:Patient Participation; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D010820:Physicians / Q000145:classification / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011639:Public Opinion