A recent Gallup Health and Healthcare Survey found that 70 percent of respondents trust the information provided by their physician, an increase from 64 percent in 2002 when the survey was last conducted. The survey also showed patients over the age of 65 are mostly likely to feel confident in the accuracy of information provided by their doctors.
In the report, author Frank Newport writes:
All in all, these data suggest that doctors generally are in at least as good a position in their patients' minds as they were eight years ago. This is despite anecdotal reports of doctors' complaints about patients' second-guessing their diagnoses and medical advice, and spending hours on the Internet researching what they have been told. The substantial majority of Americans seem content to generally accept their doctor's advice without need for further research or a second opinion.
The results for the poll are based on telephone interviews conducted Nov. 4-7, 2010, with a random sample of 511 adults aged 18 and older. All respondents resided in the United States and were selected using random-digit-dial sampling.
Via WebMD
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