Failure of Physicians to Recognize Functional Disability in Ambulatory Patients
Published in: Annals of Internal Medicine, v. 114, no. 6, Mar. 15, 1991, p. 451-454
Posted on RAND.org on January 01, 1991
Read More
Access further information on this document at www.annals.orgThis article was published outside of RAND. The full text of the article can be found at the link above.
The objective of this study was to assess the ability of internists to identify functional disabilities reported by their patients by comparing the responses by physicians and a random sample of their patients to a 12-item questionnaire about physical and social function. It concludes that physicians often underestimate or fail to recognize functional disabilities that are reported by their patients. They overstate functional impairment to a lesser degree. Because these discrepancies may adversely affect patient care and well-being, medical educators and clinicians should pay more attention to the assessment of patient function.
This article was published outside of RAND. The full text of the article can be found at the link above.
This report is part of the RAND Corporation External publication series. Many RAND studies are published in peer-reviewed scholarly journals, as chapters in commercial books, or as documents published by other organizations.
Our mission to help improve policy and decisionmaking through research and analysis is enabled through our core values of quality and objectivity and our unwavering commitment to the highest level of integrity and ethical behavior. To help ensure our research and analysis are rigorous, objective, and nonpartisan, we subject our research publications to a robust and exacting quality-assurance process; avoid both the appearance and reality of financial and other conflicts of interest through staff training, project screening, and a policy of mandatory disclosure; and pursue transparency in our research engagements through our commitment to the open publication of our research findings and recommendations, disclosure of the source of funding of published research, and policies to ensure intellectual independence. For more information, visit www.rand.org/about/principles.
The RAND Corporation is a nonprofit institution that helps improve policy and decisionmaking through research and analysis. RAND's publications do not necessarily reflect the opinions of its research clients and sponsors.