DO INDIAN PHYSICIANS DEROGATE PEERS WHO USE COMPUTER-BASED DIAGNOSTIC AIDS

摘要

Several studies suggest that physicians are reluctant to adopt computer-based diagnostic decision aids, in part, due to the widespread psychological bias that patients and peers have against physicians who use them. This bias has been well documented among Western patients and physicians. However, to date, no one has examined this bias in a non-Western setting. This work examines the attitudes of Indian physicians towards other physicians who use computer-based diagnostic aids. To accomplish this, we administered a series of experiments and a follow-up survey. The participants were physicians from three Indian medical centers. In the survey, the majority of physicians were positive about the usefulness of diagnostic aids, especially for use in the diagnosis of difficult illnesses. However, when asked to imagine how patients might react to learning their physician used a computer-based diagnostic aid, our participant responses where more negative. Similarly, in the experiments, physicians rated the diagnostic ability of physicians who used a diagnostic aid significantly lower than the ability of physicians who did not.