TY - JOUR
T1 - What's in a name? Laypeople's understanding of medical roles and titles
AU - Hause, Emily
AU - Praska, Corinne
AU - Pitt, Michael B.
AU - Hendrickson, Marissa A.
AU - Charpentier, Victoria
AU - Allen, Katherine A.
AU - Gotlieb, Rachael
AU - Lunos, Scott
AU - Marmet, Jordan
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Society of Hospital Medicine.
PY - 2022/12
Y1 - 2022/12
N2 - Background: Physicians regularly use jargon in patient communication, which can lead to confusion and misunderstanding. Objective: To assess the general public's understanding of names and roles of medical specialties and job seniority titles. Designs: Volunteer participants completed an electronic survey, filling-in-the-blanks for 14 medical specialties (e.g., “pediatricians are doctors who take care of _____”), and ranked physician titles in order of experience (medical student, intern, senior resident, fellow, attending).Setting: The 2021 Minnesota State Fair.Participants: Volunteers >18 years old without medical or nursing training. Main Outcome and Measures: We summarized responses with descriptive statistics. Two researchers coded open-ended answers as correct, partially correct, or incorrect, with a third researcher for coding discrepancies. Results: Two hundred and four participants completed the survey (55% female; mean age 43; 67% of respondents with a bachelor's degree or higher). Of 14 medical specialties listed on the survey, respondents most accurately identified dermatologists (94%) and cardiologists (93%). Six specialties were understood by less than half of the respondents: neonatologists (48%), pulmonologists (43%), hospitalists (31%), intensivists (29%), internists (21%), and nephrologists (20%). Twelve percent of participants correctly identified medical roles in rank order. Most participants (74%) correctly identified medical students as the least experienced. Senior residents were most often identified as the most experienced (44%), with just 27% of respondents correctly placing the attending there. We conclude that medical professionals should recognize that titles are a common source of misunderstanding among the general public and should describe their role when introducing themselves to minimize confusion.
AB - Background: Physicians regularly use jargon in patient communication, which can lead to confusion and misunderstanding. Objective: To assess the general public's understanding of names and roles of medical specialties and job seniority titles. Designs: Volunteer participants completed an electronic survey, filling-in-the-blanks for 14 medical specialties (e.g., “pediatricians are doctors who take care of _____”), and ranked physician titles in order of experience (medical student, intern, senior resident, fellow, attending).Setting: The 2021 Minnesota State Fair.Participants: Volunteers >18 years old without medical or nursing training. Main Outcome and Measures: We summarized responses with descriptive statistics. Two researchers coded open-ended answers as correct, partially correct, or incorrect, with a third researcher for coding discrepancies. Results: Two hundred and four participants completed the survey (55% female; mean age 43; 67% of respondents with a bachelor's degree or higher). Of 14 medical specialties listed on the survey, respondents most accurately identified dermatologists (94%) and cardiologists (93%). Six specialties were understood by less than half of the respondents: neonatologists (48%), pulmonologists (43%), hospitalists (31%), intensivists (29%), internists (21%), and nephrologists (20%). Twelve percent of participants correctly identified medical roles in rank order. Most participants (74%) correctly identified medical students as the least experienced. Senior residents were most often identified as the most experienced (44%), with just 27% of respondents correctly placing the attending there. We conclude that medical professionals should recognize that titles are a common source of misunderstanding among the general public and should describe their role when introducing themselves to minimize confusion.
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U2 - 10.1002/jhm.12971
DO - 10.1002/jhm.12971
M3 - Article
C2 - 36173137
AN - SCOPUS:85138982454
SN - 1553-5592
VL - 17
SP - 956
EP - 960
JO - Journal of hospital medicine
JF - Journal of hospital medicine
IS - 12
ER -