Posted on 04/06/2023 7:54:59 PM PDT by DoodleBob
The medical misinformation problem isn’t going away, with around three-quarters of physicians saying inaccurate medical information has made it harder to treat patients and has impacted patient outcomes, according to a Morning Consult poll conducted on behalf of the de Beaumont Foundation.
This comes after nearly three years of a global pandemic that put healthcare in the crosshairs of medical misinformation. Indeed, medical misinformation existed before COVID-19, but the politicization of the pandemic made the issue ripe for inaccurate and misleading medical information.
The more than 800 physicians included in the survey indicated that politicization and misleading medical claims have had a spillover effect on actual medical practice. Around four in 10 (44 percent) physicians said that half the research their patients bring into the exam room is inaccurate.
Seventy-two percent of respondents said medical misinformation makes it harder for them to treat their patients, and the same proportion said medical misinformation has adversely impacted patient outcomes.
Take, for example, the COVID-19 vaccine. Surveyed physicians overwhelmingly support the vaccine, with 92 percent saying it is safe and 91 percent of them saying it is effective. Nearly all (92 percent) of physicians said COVID-19 has killed millions of Americans.
But patients don’t see it that way. Only around two-thirds acknowledged the death toll COVID-19 has had, and similarly low proportions agree that the vaccine is safe and effective. That level of skepticism, which is not rooted in medical fact, has dissuaded people from getting the vaccines and may have impacted health outcomes.
“These findings are important for two reasons,” Brian C. Castrucci, DrPH, president and CEO of de Beaumont, said publicly. “First, it shows that despite the voices of a small majority, physicians almost universally agree that COVID vaccines are safe and effective. Second, misinformation isn’t going away. It’s not a COVID problem, but one that pervades many areas of health.”
Physicians are more likely than patients to perceive the threat of medical misinformation. For example, 51 percent of physicians said medical misinformation spread by providers is a big problem; only 41 percent of laypeople said the same.
There is considerable discordance in how patients and providers perceive medical misinformation about COVID-19, in particular. While more than 80 percent of physicians said misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines and treatments is a big problem, only 69 and 66 percent of patients, respectively, agreed.
But it’s more than just COVID-19. Physicians noted that medical misinformation about weight loss, mental health, and other vaccines are all issues.
In terms of fixing the issue, it is apparent that physicians and other medical professionals have a role to play. While patients are more likely to pin blame on physicians for misleading information about the spread of COVID, the effectiveness of vaccines, and the effectiveness of masks, physicians are taking it upon themselves to remedy the problem.
More than three-quarters of physicians said it is on them and their peers to combat medical misinformation about the spread of COVID, the safety and efficacy of the vaccine, other vaccines, off-label use of drugs like hydroxychloroquine to treat COVID, and the efficacy of masks.
Physicians said there are some issues that will make debunking those untruths difficult. For one thing, patients mostly trust sources of which physicians themselves are skeptical: the internet and social media websites. While physicians are more trusting of academic journals, patients are more willing to use online web searches and Facebook or Twitter to learn more about medical issues.
There is also the small but loud group of physicians that may be helping spread these falsities.
Physician respondents said there should be some consequences for providers who spread medical misinformation: 85 agree with a warning for a first offense, 73 percent endorsed a fine for a second offense, 70 percent agreed with a temporary loss of license for a third offense, and 63 percent agreed with a permanent loss of license for a fourth offense.
Despite these hurdles, debunking medical misinformation may not entirely be the uphill battle physicians fear it is. For one thing, physicians are vastly overestimating the proportion of patients with whom they have lost trust. While physicians estimated they lost trust with 68 percent of patients, that number is more like 21 percent, according to patient respondents.
If anything, trust levels have stayed about the same. Instead, physicians may be contending with a more vocal group who has lost trust in medicine, or they may be facing higher stakes in the spread of medical misinformation.
Big Pharma pitching their designer meds on prime time TV hasn’t helped.
That is fueling America’s other drug problem.
There is also the small but loud group of physicians that may be helping spread these falsities.
LOL...I think most of them post here, as FRoctors.
A dwindling crowd, thankfully.
Who decides what is misinformation? Dr Fauci?
Death By Prescription Sept. 27, 2016By one estimate, taking prescribed medications is the fourth leading cause of death among Americans.
Estimates dating back nearly two decades put the number at 100,000 or more deaths annually, which includes a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 1998 that projected 106,000 deaths. A more recent analysis estimates 128,000 Americans die each year as a result of taking medications as prescribed
Read it and weep, doctors:
https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#vaccination-trends
Looks like the “misinformation” had an effect. Nobody wants that crap anymore.
C-19 has killed “millions of Americans”? How many millions?
Do many doctors insist a man can get pregnant and a woman can have a penis?
And they wonder why so few people TRUST them any more?
“Take, for example, the COVID-19 vaccine. Surveyed physicians overwhelmingly support the vaccine, with 92 percent saying it is safe and 91 percent of them saying it is effective.”
Physicians must know right? And clearly they are responding without fear or favor, right?
Well perhaps no on both counts. Doctors have neither time nor inclination to dig into the research. They trust the NIH, FDA, United Nations, etc. Besides they don’t want to run afoul of the state board of medicine, insurance companies, etc.
“Surveyed physicians overwhelmingly support the vaccine, with 92 percent saying it is safe and 91 percent of them saying it is effective. “
*********************************************
So 92% of doctors are idiots? Wow that a higher % than I expected.
Once again one of the Waga crowd shoots mouth off before actually reading and comprehending the article. Apparently it is not understood that the small amount of physicians are the FRistians priests and and deacons including the reprobate cardiologist St Peter. And the patients? Apparently there is no erosion or trust and the difficulty of the internet and social media? Say hello, expose!
I am sure that the Pavlovian unhinged will smear the respondents to this poll, but it will be difficult. Going to have fun watching!
This is always been a problem, people with strong social ties tend to rely on social networks to inform them rather than from studies or literature. Doctors have to educate their patients on where to get the best information and leave it at that and let the patient educate themselves on the difference between evidence-based medicine, scientifically validated studies, studies on likely correlation factors, peer-reviewed journals, and other types of scientific literature. Ultimately the only thing that you can trust is demonstrated evidence-based medicine to conclusively say something works or doesn’t work or impacts your health. Many studies are only about the probable causeical factors impacting your health and they can’t possibly take it account every possible Factor in everybody’s health history and environment. Psychological studies are even worse, how do you assess that people are psychologically the same in order to even conduct a study.
I know of no doctors that insist on this.
There's yer trouble.
I trust my VA doc, but verify always.
Well, there’s more than one vaccine. I got the J&J at the drug store, on the understanding that it was once and done. Then they start in with this whole booster thing ... boosters upon boosters.
Nuh-uh
I’m the world’s luckiest woman. My MD didn’t believe in vax. And he literally prescribes 10 nutritional supplements to keep me healthy, making them deductible medical expenses. We just found out that we go to the same gym and can meet there Sundays at 3...but I won’t go until PGA Golf season is over.
Wonderful to be friends with your MD. I know for sure that he has my best interests at heart.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.