Information-oriented patients and physician career satisfaction: is there a link?

Patients' increasing use of alternative sources of information besides their physician and more active involvement in medical decision making may be changing relationships between physicians and their patients. We term patients who provide medical information to their physicians from sources other than their physician as information-oriented patients and investigate the relationship between having such patients and physician career satisfaction. We find that having more information-oriented patients is significantly associated with lower physician career satisfaction. Though healthcare information from alternative sources other than their physicians is thought to promote better-informed patient choices, the adverse relationship with physician career satisfaction found in this study may have important implications for patient access and quality of care.