While physician perceptions of online rating websites tend to be negative, awareness of the content and rating patterns may help physicians better manage their online reputation, according to a study published in JAMA Otolaryngology — Head & Neck Surgery.
Researchers identified academic allopathic otolaryngologists from the Eastern Section of the Triological Society from lists of academic program faculty members in the Northeastern United States. A total of 281 faculty members from 25 programs were identified. Each member's name was searched using the Google search engine.
According to the study:
• Around 94.7 percent of ENT physicians had a profile on Healthgrades.com and 87.9 percent had a profile on Vitals.com.
• Of those with profiles, 69.9 percent had patient reviews on Healthgrades and 81.8 percent had reviews on Vitals.
• The mean score was 4.4 of 5.0 on Healthgrades and 3.4 of 4.0 on Vitals.
• On Vitals, 63.7 percent had comments associated with them.
• Overall, 27.3 percent of the comments were determined to be negative, and 49.1 percent of otolaryngologists had at least one negative comment.
• Also, academic position and subspecialty affected reviews on Healthgrades.
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