What should doctors do if they become sick?

Area of Science:

• Medical Ethics
• Physician Behavior
• Healthcare Management

Background:

• Physicians often face unique challenges when managing their own health.
• Understanding physician perspectives on self-care and peer recommendations is crucial for healthcare policy.
• Existing research shows variability in how medical professionals approach personal illness.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare doctors' personal illness behavior with their recommendations for colleagues.
• To assess physician attitudes towards self-investigation and self-medication.
• To identify agreement levels between general practitioners (GPs) and hospital specialists regarding physician self-care.

Main Methods:

• A questionnaire was distributed to 59 GPs and 65 hospital specialists.
• The survey covered expected/recommended behavior for 10 medical conditions.
• It also assessed acceptability of self-investigation (10 procedures) and self-medication (10 drug groups).

Main Results:

• General practitioners were more likely to recommend consulting their own GP but preferred self-treatment.
• Hospital specialists advised sick doctors to seek direct specialist consultation.
• Consensus was low regarding the acceptability of physician self-investigation and self-medication.

Conclusions:

• Significant differences exist in how doctors manage their own illness versus advising peers.
• Physician self-care practices and recommendations show considerable variation based on practice setting (GP vs. hospital).
• Lack of consensus on self-investigation and self-medication highlights a need for clearer guidelines or further research.