Considering the potential unintended consequences of RateMDs: an exploratory study in one specialty
Background: Websites that facilitate communication between patients regarding their experiences with individual physicians are now relatively commonplace. Given patient-generated ratings are publicly available, physicians could use these to access rarely available patient feedback. We explored the...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Canadian Medical Education Journal
2025-02-01
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| Series: | Canadian Medical Education Journal |
| Online Access: | https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/cmej/article/view/77821 |
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| author | Kristina H Pulkki Shamira Pira Meredith Young Grace M Scott Carol Nhan Kevin Fung Gabriella Le Blanc Lily HP Nguyen |
| author_facet | Kristina H Pulkki Shamira Pira Meredith Young Grace M Scott Carol Nhan Kevin Fung Gabriella Le Blanc Lily HP Nguyen |
| author_sort | Kristina H Pulkki |
| collection | DOAJ |
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Background: Websites that facilitate communication between patients regarding their experiences with individual physicians are now relatively commonplace. Given patient-generated ratings are publicly available, physicians could use these to access rarely available patient feedback. We explored the content of reviews associated with low physician ratings and consider the potential benefits and consequences of relying on this form of freely available data to support individual life-long learning.
Methods: We conducted an exploratory qualitative descriptive study. We collected narrative comments associated with low numerical ratings on one physician-rating website (RateMDs) drawn from one specialty in Canada. Written reviews associated with low numerical ratings (≤2/5) for Canadian otolaryngologists were collected yielding a total of 878 comment sets that were analyzed deductively and iteratively.
Results: We found that patient comments described poor performance in areas that aligned, for the most part, with the CanMEDS roles including Professional, Communicator, and Leader; specifically referring to management of the clinical environment, administrative staff, and trainees.
Conclusion: While not intended for physician feedback, physicians could access patient-to-patient ratings and associated written reviews as a means to identify areas of practice improvement. However, this represents an unintended use of these websites. While speculative, access to patient-to-patient rating websites could negatively impact physician confidence or self-worth – representing a negative consequence of their use. The utilization of these data for potential self-improvement represents an unintended use of patient-to-patient ratings and so may be accompanied by unintended consequences for physicians who use these data as potential feedback, and patients who contribute to physician rating sites.
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| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-ce8b0291c87249fbbdc54b4360c5e866 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1923-1202 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-02-01 |
| publisher | Canadian Medical Education Journal |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Canadian Medical Education Journal |
| spelling | doaj-art-ce8b0291c87249fbbdc54b4360c5e8662025-02-05T16:37:21ZengCanadian Medical Education JournalCanadian Medical Education Journal1923-12022025-02-0110.36834/cmej.77821Considering the potential unintended consequences of RateMDs: an exploratory study in one specialtyKristina H Pulkki0Shamira Pira1Meredith Young2Grace M Scott3Carol Nhan4Kevin Fung5Gabriella Le Blanc6Lily HP Nguyen7University of OttawaMcGill UniversityMcGill UniversityWestern UniversityMcGill UniversityWestern UniversityMcGill UniversityMcGill University Background: Websites that facilitate communication between patients regarding their experiences with individual physicians are now relatively commonplace. Given patient-generated ratings are publicly available, physicians could use these to access rarely available patient feedback. We explored the content of reviews associated with low physician ratings and consider the potential benefits and consequences of relying on this form of freely available data to support individual life-long learning. Methods: We conducted an exploratory qualitative descriptive study. We collected narrative comments associated with low numerical ratings on one physician-rating website (RateMDs) drawn from one specialty in Canada. Written reviews associated with low numerical ratings (≤2/5) for Canadian otolaryngologists were collected yielding a total of 878 comment sets that were analyzed deductively and iteratively. Results: We found that patient comments described poor performance in areas that aligned, for the most part, with the CanMEDS roles including Professional, Communicator, and Leader; specifically referring to management of the clinical environment, administrative staff, and trainees. Conclusion: While not intended for physician feedback, physicians could access patient-to-patient ratings and associated written reviews as a means to identify areas of practice improvement. However, this represents an unintended use of these websites. While speculative, access to patient-to-patient rating websites could negatively impact physician confidence or self-worth – representing a negative consequence of their use. The utilization of these data for potential self-improvement represents an unintended use of patient-to-patient ratings and so may be accompanied by unintended consequences for physicians who use these data as potential feedback, and patients who contribute to physician rating sites. https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/cmej/article/view/77821 |
| spellingShingle | Kristina H Pulkki Shamira Pira Meredith Young Grace M Scott Carol Nhan Kevin Fung Gabriella Le Blanc Lily HP Nguyen Considering the potential unintended consequences of RateMDs: an exploratory study in one specialty Canadian Medical Education Journal |
| title | Considering the potential unintended consequences of RateMDs: an exploratory study in one specialty |
| title_full | Considering the potential unintended consequences of RateMDs: an exploratory study in one specialty |
| title_fullStr | Considering the potential unintended consequences of RateMDs: an exploratory study in one specialty |
| title_full_unstemmed | Considering the potential unintended consequences of RateMDs: an exploratory study in one specialty |
| title_short | Considering the potential unintended consequences of RateMDs: an exploratory study in one specialty |
| title_sort | considering the potential unintended consequences of ratemds an exploratory study in one specialty |
| url | https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/cmej/article/view/77821 |
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