Do physicians care about patient choice?

Full Abstract

A new policy (patient choice) was introduced in Sweden in the early 1990s to give patients the right to choose their healthcare providers, however, evaluations show that few patients exercise this right. This paper analyses physicians' roles in putting the patient choice policy into effect. To examine attitudes, knowledge and behaviour among physicians, a questionnaire was sent to 960 physicians in one of the most populous counties in Sweden. The results show that the physicians approve of the policy, yet only a minority state that they regularly help patients to choose healthcare providers by giving them information and letting them choose where they will be referred. Instead, referrals are mostly based on medical grounds; the patient's wish to choose a specific provider is considered less important. In summary, we found that more than a decade after the policy was introduced, only a minority of physicians act according to the political intention. This could be one explanation for why many patients still do not exercise their right to choose a hospital.

Author information

Author/s: Winblad, Ulrika (U);

Affiliation: Department of Public Health and Caring Sciences, Health Services Research, Uppsala Science Park, Uppsala, Sweden. ulrika.winblad(-atsign-)pubcare.uu.se

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article

Journal: Social science & medicine (1982) (Soc Sci Med), published in England. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2008-Nov; vol 67 (issue 10) : pp 1502-11

Dates: Created 2008/10/06; Completed 2009/03/03;

PMID: 18786753, status: MEDLINE (last retrieved date: 3/10/2009)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

External Links for this article
(including full text providers, if available):

Click Electronic Full-text Provider Links to see options for finding the electronic full text links to this article. Note there may be a subscription or fee required for access to the full text. See our FAQ for information on finding FREE full text articles.

This article may also be located in paper journal collections available in many libraries. Use the Journal and Publication Information above to find the full article.

MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MeSH Headings (categories) shown below.

Note: Bold headings indicate primary MeSH headings or qualifiers.

This article has not been indexed for related articles as yet, however you can still use the live related article search links below.

See 100+ related articles.

See a larger map of 100+ related articles.