title: Physicians' willingness to report impaired colleagues.
abstract: We surveyed physicians to determine what factors were associated with their reporting of impaired colleagues to Physician Health Programs (PHPs). We conducted a cross-sectional mail survey of 1000 randomly selected practicing physicians in the United States. A survey instrument asked the physicians whether they would report 10 hypothetical impaired colleagues to a PHP. The results show that a majority of the physicians would report physicians to PHPs, but were more likely to report hypothetical physicians involved in substance abuse than those who were emotionally or cognitively impaired (p<0.001). Respondents who felt they had a societal obligation as opposed to an obligation to protect the rights of the individual (p=0.006) were more likely to report hypothetical physicians. Those respondents who stated they knew of guidelines on reporting impaired physicians had more frequently reported impaired colleagues (p<0.001). We conclude that physicians should be educated on the availability and functioning of PHPs and the ethical and legal obligations of assisting impaired colleagues.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Christiana Care Health System, 501 West 14th Street, Wilmington, Delaware 19899, USA. nfarber@christianacare.org
authors.forename: Neil J
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: Farber
authors.forename: Stephanie G
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Gilibert
authors.forename: Brian M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Aboff
authors.forename: Virginia U
authors.initials: VU
authors.lastname: Collier
authors.forename: Joan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Weiner
authors.forename: E Gil
authors.initials: EG
authors.lastname: Boyer
mesh_terms: D003219:Confidentiality; D006801:Humans; D007400:Interprofessional Relations; D009042:Motivation; D010815:Physician Impairment; D010820:Physicians / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014342:Truth Disclosure / Q000941:ethics*; D014481:United States