Gender analysis of Spanish National Questionnaire on behaviours and attitudes of doctors towards their own illness (CAMAPE)

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES

Physicians' health is a key element for quality healthcare. Medical professionals have difficulty accepting their role as patients and it might be different among sexes. The aim was to describe behaviours and attitudes of doctors towards their own illness.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

An online survey was launched through the General Council of Medical Associations webpage for all Spanish registered doctors. A bivariate analysis by sex was performed for all the questionnaire variables using parametric and non-parametric tests. The significance level was p<0.05 (95% confidence interval).

RESULTS

A total of 4,308 registered doctors (1,858 men and 2,450 women) answered. Women were younger, single, and worked mainly in non-surgical specialities in the public sector. Men were older, married, and worked more frequently in public-private practice. Women had less chronic conditions, except for anxiety disorders (11.52% vs 15.18%). Both sexes, especially women, primarily self-treated (94.29% vs 95.02%), went to work while ill (88.16% vs 90.29%), visited their GP (56% vs 70%), and half of them underwent annual occupational health checks (40% vs 48%). Women self-prescribed more analgesics (93.43% vs 95.63%), more presenteeism (88% vs 90%) and felt more insecure when treating sick fellows (9.96% vs 20.12%) and requested training for it. More women agreed to make deontological recommendations about doctors' health (91.55% vs 96.16%) and considered revalidation may contribute to improve doctors' health (65.29% vs 66.16%).

CONCLUSIONS

Male and female doctors show illness-health behaviours and attitudes at work to improve. There are differences among male and female doctors. Regarding, medical feminization, ethical recommendations may be of benefit regarding doctors' health-illness issues and considering gender perspective.

UK Policy on Doctor Remediation: Trajectories and Challenges

Around the world, policy-makers, academics, and health service professionals have become increasingly aware of the importance of remediation, the process by which poor performance is "remedied," as part of the changing landscape of medical regulation. It is, therefore, an opportune time to critique the UK experience with remediation policy. This article frames, for the first time, the UK remediation policy as developing from a central policy aim that was articulated in the 1990s: to accelerate the identification of underperformance and, subsequently, remedy any problems identified as soon as possible. In pursuit of this aim, three policy trajectories have emerged: professionalizing and standardizing remediation provision; linking remediation with other forms of regulation, namely relicensure (known in the UK as medical revalidation); and fostering obligations for doctors to report themselves and others for remediation needs. The operationalization of policy along these trajectories, and the challenges that have arisen, has relevance for anyone seeking to understand or indeed improve remediation practices within any health care system. It is argued here that the UK serves as an example of the more general challenges posed by seeking to integrate remediation policy within broader frameworks of medical governance, in particular systems of relicensure, and the need to develop a solid evidence base for remediation practices.