MDs second on honesty scale, lawyers and politicians lag
CMAJ 1999;160:1547
A recent Gallop poll indicates that Canadians still consider physicians to be among the country's most honest and ethical professionals. The survey, conducted in March, revealed that more than 60% of respondents rated the honesty and ethical standards of physicians as either high or very high. Pharmacists/druggists were the only professionals deemed more trustworthy than physicians, with 68% of respondents giving them a high or very high rating.
An honesty and ethics score was calculated for each profession based on the percentage of high/very high responses minus the percentage of low/very low answers. The scores for pharmacists and physicians were +65 and +56, respectively. Engineers followed with a score of +46; police officers scored +45. Journalists and lawyers both had negative scores of -3 and -11, respectively. This marked the first time that journalists have not received a positive score, but lawyers have not been on the positive side of the ledger since 1987. Members of Parliament and labour union leaders shared the worst score, -22. Only 14% of respondents rated the honesty and ethical standards of MPs as being high or very high.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
This column was written by Lynda Buske, chief, physician resources information planning, CMA. Readers may send potential research topics to Patrick Sullivan (sullip@cma.ca; 613 731-8610 or 800 663-7336 x2126; fax 613 565-2382).
 |
Send a letter to the editor Envoyez une lettre à la rédaction |
© 1999 Canadian Medical Association
Autres chroniques Médicogramme |
