Care of doctors to their health care - Results of a postal survey

BACKGROUND: The goal of this study was to examine the attitudes of physicia ns towards the care of their health. SUBJECT AND METHOD: A structured questionnaire was addressed to a sample of 795 doctors registered in Barcelona, Spain, who were randomly selected acc ording to sex, age and residence. RESULTS: The response rate was 34%. Nearly half of doctors (49%) admitted n ot to have a family doctor, and in 33% of cases the family doctor was one o f the Public Health. 48% of doctors were found not to have a registered med ical chart. On the other hand, 52% of surveyed doctors had asked for health advice to several colleagues, yet only 48% followed their recommendations and 82% admitted to prescribe for themselves. Concerning preventive measure s, 47% of doctors did not attend medical visits offered by the occupational health department of their workplaces and 19.5% of those who attended thes e visits did no follow the medical recommendations. CONCLUSIONS: A high proportion of doctors show inadequate attitudes with re gard to their health care. Therefore, a reflection should be done within th e medical profession in order to change these behaviours.