The effect of patient race and socio-economic status on physicians' perceptions of patients

Despite its potential influence on quality of care, there has been little r esearch on the way physicians perceptions of and beliefs about patients are affected by patient race or socio-economic status. The lack of research in this area creates a critical gap in our understanding of how patients' dem ographic characteristics influence encounter characteristics, diagnoses, tr eatment recommendations, and outcomes. This study uses survey data to exami ne the degree to which patient race and socio-economic status affected phys icians' perceptions of patients during a post-angiogram encounter. A total of 842 patient encounters were sampled, out of which 193 physicians provide d data on 618 (73%) of the encounters sampled. The results of analyses of the effect of patient race and SES on physician perceptions of and attitude towards patients, controlling for patient age, sex, race, frailty/sickness, depression, mastery, social assertiveness and physician characteristics. are presented. These results supported the hypot hesis that physicians' perceptions of patients were influenced by patients' socio-demographic characteristics. Physicians tended to perceive African-A mericans and members of low and middle SES groups more negatively on a numb er of dimensions than they did Whites and upper SES patients. Patient race was associated with physicians' assessment of patient intelligence, feeling s of affiliation toward the patient, and beliefs about patient's likelihood of risk behavior and adherence with medical advice; patient SES was associ ated with physicians' perceptions of patients' personality, abilities, beha vioral tendencies and role demands. Implications are discussed in terms of further studies and potential interventions. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.