Online reviews increase physician stress

Just like online reviews for the coffee shop around the corner, patients are rating physicians on both independent and health system websites. A study in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, published by Springer, examines how these rating systems effect physician stress levels and how both parties view the online review process.

In comparing the two methods of online reviewing, from either independent sites or health system sites, the study outlines the differences between them. Independent sites, like Healthgrades.com, only offer reviews on certain doctors with much less feedback from patients while health system sites offer an abundance of reviews and information from patient surveys.

The study required 828 physicians and 494 patients, from four Massachusetts hospitals, to complete a web-based survey on review practices and the effects of feedback. Results included:

• 53 percent of physicians had read online review about themselves.
• 39 percent of patients had looked up reviews in their physicians.
• 78 percent of physicians felt increased stress due to the possibility of a bad review.
• 46 percent of physicians believe online reviewing is detrimental to the physician-patient relationship.
• Overall, physicians were more likely to trust health system websites while patients favored using independent sites to read and post reviews.

"Patients may lack trust in health system websites due to concerns regarding bias, as these publish reviews regarding their own physicians," said Alison Holliday of Harvard Medical School. "Health systems seeking to publish patient experience survey data will therefore need to engage patients in their trust of what is very likely a new and complicated data source to them."