Patient Understanding of Health Care Practitioner Titles-A California Survey.

IF 2.2 3区医学 Q2 DERMATOLOGY

Dermatologic Surgery Pub Date : 2025-08-26 DOI:10.1097/DSS.0000000000004807

Elan M Newman, Ann F Haas, Philip R Levin, Christina M Menor, Antonio Hernandez Conte

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Background: Physicians are concerned that patients are confused by the professional titles used by nonphysician practitioners.

Objective: To assess how commonly used medical titles and specialty descriptors are understood by adult Californians in relation to the practitioner's actual training and qualifications.

Methods: A 60-question multiple choice online survey was conducted on California adults aged 18 to 99 years. The survey was designed to yield a 3.0% margin of error. Given the demographic diversity of California, participants were sourced from multiple opt-in survey panels and balanced for age, income, gender/race/ethnic diversity, education, community type, geography, and political ideology.

Results: A total of 1,033 subjects (24.6% response rate; 4,206 potential participants) met the inclusion criteria for the survey. Participants demonstrated significant confusion by the medical and specialty titles used by nonphysicians in California. Only 9% (N = 91) of participants correctly matched a practitioner's level of training and qualifications with the medical or specialty titles provided in the survey. The understanding of medical titles also varied between age groups and across geographic locations in the state. Of the participants, 88% supported legislation to restrict the use "doctor" and "-ologist" terms to physicians only.

Conclusion: The results underscore the need for California to provide additional regulation and legislation regarding title transparency.

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病人对医疗保健从业人员头衔的理解——加州调查。

背景：医生担心患者会被非医师从业人员使用的专业头衔所混淆。目的：评估加州成年人如何理解与从业人员实际培训和资格相关的常用医学头衔和专业描述符。方法：对加州18岁至99岁的成年人进行60道选择题在线调查。该调查的设计误差幅度为3.0%。考虑到加州人口的多样性，参与者来自多个可选择的调查小组，并根据年龄、收入、性别/种族/民族多样性、教育程度、社区类型、地理位置和政治意识形态进行了平衡。结果：共有1033名受试者（应答率24.6%，潜在参与者4206名）符合调查纳入标准。参与者对加州非医生使用的医学和专业头衔表现出明显的混淆。只有9% （N = 91）的参与者正确地将从业者的培训水平和资格与调查中提供的医学或专业头衔相匹配。对医学职称的理解也因年龄组和州内不同地理位置而异。在参与者中，88%的人支持立法限制“医生”和“专家”术语的使用，仅限医生使用。结论：研究结果强调了加州在产权透明度方面提供额外监管和立法的必要性。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Dermatologic Surgery 医学-皮肤病学

CiteScore

3.10

自引率

16.70%

发文量

547

期刊介绍： Exclusively devoted to dermatologic surgery, the Dermatologic Surgery journal publishes the most clinically comprehensive and up-to-date information in its field. This unique monthly journal provides today’s most expansive and in-depth coverage of cosmetic and reconstructive skin surgery and skin cancer through peer-reviewed original articles, extensive illustrations, case reports, ongoing features, literature reviews and correspondence. The journal provides information on the latest scientific information for all types of dermatologic surgery including: -Ambulatory phlebectomy- Blepharoplasty- Body contouring- Chemical peels- Cryosurgery- Curettage and desiccation- Dermabrasion- Excision and closure- Flap Surgery- Grafting- Hair restoration surgery- Injectable neuromodulators- Laser surgery- Liposuction- Microdermabrasion- Microlipoinjection- Micropigmentation- Mohs micrographic surgery- Nail surgery- Phlebology- Sclerotherapy- Skin cancer surgery- Skin resurfacing- Soft-tissue fillers. Dermatologists, dermatologic surgeons, plastic surgeons, oculoplastic surgeons and facial plastic surgeons consider this a must-read publication for anyone in the field.