WHAT SHOULD DOCTORS DO IF THEY BECOME SICK

The objectives of this study were (i) to investigate whether there wer e any differences between how doctors behave when ill and how they wou ld recommend other doctors to behave; (ii) to determine whether doctor s think self-investigation and self-medication are acceptable; and (ii i) to find out if doctors working in general practice and hospitals ag ree about how other doctors should manage their own ill health. A ques tionnaire enquiring about expected or recommended behaviour for 10 med ical conditions and acceptability of self-investigation by 10 procedur es and self-medication with 10 drug groups was sent to 59 general prac titioners (GPs) and 65 hospital consultants in the same geographical a rea. Response rates were 78.7 and 81.3% from GPs and hospital speciali sts respectively. A wide range of responses was given for each questio n. General practitioners were significantly more likely to recommend o ther doctors if sick to consult their own GP, but significantly more l ikely to expect to treat themselves. Hospital specialists were signifi cantly more likely to advise sick doctors to consult specialists direc tly rather than their GPs. There was little consensus about whether se lf-investigation and self-medication was acceptable.