Clinical decision-making: physicians' preferences and experiences

BMC Primary Care

Table 4 Conditional Odds Ratios for styles of decision-making preferred by physicians (excluding perceived role)

Physician characteristics	Paternalism vs. Shared decision-making*	Consumerism vs. Shared decision-making.**
	COR (95% CI)	COR (95% CI)
*Age*
28 – 49	1.00	1.00
50+	2.09 (1.41 – 3.11)	1.11 (0.72 – 1.71)
*Country of training*
U.S.	1.00	1.00
Overseas	2.37 (1.34 – 4.19)	0.98 (0.45 – 2.16)
*Respondent's type of medical specialty* ¹
Primary Care	1.00	1.00
Medical Specialty	1.32 (0.84 – 2.07)	1.66 (0.97 – 2.87)
Surgical Specialty	0.74 (0.43 – 1.29)	2.56 (1.51 – 4.34)
*Percentage of patients from minority backgrounds*
40% or less	1.00	1.00
> 40%	1.53 (0.96 – 2.45)	1.10 (0.64 – 1.89)
*Physician perceptions of frequency of encouraging patients to look for information*
Often/Sometimes	1.00	1.00
Hardly ever/Never	2.05 (1.33 – 3.17)	0.96 (0.57 – 1.61)
*Physician perceptions of frequency of having enough time with patients in visits*
Often/Sometimes	1.00	1.00
Hardly ever/Never	1.81 (1.03 – 3.18)	1.54 (0.84 – 2.85)

* A Conditional Odds Ratio of > 1 means that physicians in this category had a greater likelihood of preferring paternalism compared to shared decision-making than the referent group.
** A Conditional Odds Ratio of > 1 means that physicians in this category had a greater likelihood of preferring consumerism compared to shared decision-making than the referent group.
¹Physicians in surgical specialties were less likely than physicians in medical specialties to prefer paternalism compared to shared decision-making (OR 0.56; 95% CI 0.33 – 0.97), but no more likely to prefer consumerism compared to shared decision-making (OR 1.54; 95% CI 0.94 – 2.51).

ISSN: 2731-4553