Public Roles of US Physicians

Abstract

The article presents a research study that examines the public roles of U.S. physicians in assuming social responsibility in addressing health-related matters beyond providing care to patients. The authors defined public roles as collective advocacy, community participation, and political involvement. The authors used data from the Institute on Medicine as a Profession's Survey on Medical Professionalism to conduct their survey. They found that physicians support public roles. Civic-mindedness amongst physicians is most associated with sociodemographic factors, while civic action is associated with factors related to specialties and practices of the physicians.