Over 87 percent look to rebuild doctor-patient trust: survey English.news.cn   2013-11-12 13:45:20 BEIJING, Nov. 12 (Xinhua) -- According to a survey published on Tuesday, more than 87 percent of respondents expect to rebuild doctor-patient trust following recent assaults on medical workers in China. The survey, which sampled 252,283 people and was conducted by the survey center of the China Youth Daily, shows that 66.8 percent of those surveyed said they do not trust doctors' professional diagnosis and treatment. Some 30.4 percent of respondents attribute current medical disputes to a lack of public welfare services, which should be provided by public hospitals, and 27.4 percent said negative news reports worsened such disputes, according to the survey. Other reasons ranging from uneven distribution of medical resources, intensive physical workload, and the knowledge gap between patients and doctors are blamed for the loss of doctor-patient trust, the survey said. On Oct. 25, a doctor was stabbed to death and two others injured by a dissatisfied patient at a hospital in east China's Zhejiang Province. In the same week, a doctor in Guangzhou, capital of south China's Guangdong Province, was beaten up by a patient's family members. Violence against medical staff is on the rise, according to a previous sample survey by the Chinese Hospital Association conducted from December 2012 to July 2013. The annual average number of assaults on doctors per hospital increased from 20.6 in 2008 to 27.3 in 2012, according to the survey, which polled staff and patients at 316 hospitals. "Courses in medical colleges focus more on medical techniques, but there are few courses on communication," Wang Zhong, vice head of Tsinghua University Hospital, was quoted by the newspaper as saying, adding that inadequate communication is the root of a majority of medical disputes. Wang said that the assault of medical staff destroys hospital order and should be curbed and condemned as it brings panic to doctors, which ultimately results in decreased service by doctors. Chinese Vice Premier Liu Yandong pledged to curb assaults on medical workers at a meeting last week, noting that the government will launch a year-long campaign to enhance security arrangements at hospitals and improve coordination between hospitals and police. Related: China pledges to prevent assaults on doctors BEIJING, Nov. 7 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Vice Premier Liu Yandong pledged to curb assaults on medical workers at a meeting held in Beijing on Thursday. Liu warned that assaults on medical workers have affected the order of hospitals, threatened the safety of medical staff and weakened their incentive to fulfill their duties.  Full story Zero tolerance to assaults on China's doctors BEIJING, Oct. 31 (Xinhua) -- China's Ministry of Public Security has promised a zero tolerance approach to violence and other crimes targeted at medical staff. A ministry circular on Thursday said police will help hospitals resolve disputes between doctors and patients and improve security in hospitals, after a number of violent episodes between doctors and patients in the past few months, some of which led to the death of medical staff. Full story Editor: Hou Qiang

Related News • China pledges to prevent assaults on doctors • Doctor-patient trust • Discontent grows among doctors • China aims to nurture trained rural doctors • Doctor stabbed to death in China hospital BEIJING, Oct. 29 (Xinhuanet) -- Nearly 80 percent of the 3,700 doctors surveyed by the Chinese Medical Doctor Association said they don't want their children to work in medicine. Many of the doctors surveyed cited the growing tension between patients and doctors as well as the escalating violence in hospitals across the country in recent years. In 2009, 62.5 percent of the 3,200 doctors the associated surveyed expressed the same opinion, according to the Chinese Medical Doctor Association. "We conducted similar surveys around the country in 2002, 2004, 2009 and 2011, and we found that the proportion of doctors who want to see their children become doctors keeps dropping," said Deng Liqiang, an official from the association. An overwhelming majority of doctors also said that their salary didn't match how much work they put into their jobs, and that tense doctor-patient relationships and enormous amounts of pressure at work are creating a negative attitude toward their jobs. "The survey results showed that doctors are not positive," Deng said. A survey conducted by one of China's most popular medical websites, Dingxiangyuan, or dxy.cn, showed that many doctors are not in good health, with more than a quarter of those surveyed are at high risk for cardiovascular diseases. The incidence of hypertension among male doctors older than 35 is two times the normal rate.