Evidence map›Paper›PMID 32406851›Full record

Observational studyJournal of medical Internet research2020

Association Between Web-Based Physician Ratings and Physician Disciplinary Convictions: Retrospective Observational Study.

Jessica Janine Liu, Hanna R Goldberg, Eric Jm Lentz, John Justin Matelski, Asim Alam, Chaim M Bell

Abstract readObservational Study
In one paragraph

Observational study in Journal of medical Internet research, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Jessica Janine LiuDivision of General Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.ORCID 0000-0003-1545-1560
Hanna R GoldbergDepartment of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.ORCID 0000-0001-7198-0868
Eric Jm LentzFaculty of Medicine, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada.ORCID 0000-0002-7738-3287
John Justin MatelskiDepartment of Medicine, University Health Network, Toronto, ON, Canada.ORCID 0000-0003-0482-4405
Asim AlamDepartment of Anesthesia and Surgery, North York General Hospital, Toronto, ON, Canada.ORCID 0000-0002-8269-1620
Chaim M BellDivision of General Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.ORCID 0000-0002-3778-9469

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundPhysician rating websites are commonly used by the public, yet the relationship between web-based physician ratings and health care quality is not well understood.

objectiveThe objective of our study was to use physician disciplinary convictions as an extreme marker for poor physician quality and to investigate whether disciplined physicians have lower ratings than nondisciplined matched controls.

methodsThis was a retrospective national observational study of all disciplined physicians in Canada (751 physicians, 2000 to 2013). We searched ratings (2005-2015) from the country's leading online physician rating website for this group, and for 751 matched controls according to gender, specialty, practice years, and location. We compared overall ratings (out of a score of 5) as well as mean ratings by the type of misconduct. We also compared ratings for each type of misconduct and punishment.

resultsThere were 62.7% (471/751) of convicted and disciplined physicians (cases) with web-based ratings and 64.6% (485/751) of nondisciplined physicians (controls) with ratings. Of 312 matched case-control pairs, disciplined physicians were rated lower than controls overall (3.62 vs 4.00; P<.001). Disciplined physicians had lower ratings for all types of misconduct and punishment-except for physicians disciplined for sexual offenses (n=90 pairs; 3.83 vs 3.86; P=.81). Sexual misconduct was the only category in which mean ratings for physicians were higher than those for other disciplined physicians (3.63 vs 3.35; P=.003).

conclusionsPhysicians convicted for disciplinary misconduct generally had lower web-based ratings. Physicians convicted of sexual misconduct did not have lower ratings and were rated higher than other disciplined physicians. These findings may have future implications for the identification of physicians providing poor-quality care.

Indexed as

Case-Control StudiesFemaleHumansInternetMalePatient SatisfactionPhysiciansProfessional MisconductRetrospective Studiespatient-centered carepatient satisfactionquality improvement

Identifiers

PMID32406851
PMCPMC7256745

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.