A survey among patients about physician virtues that they value

Abstract

Theoretically, the exercise of good medicine requires physicians who possess and practice virtues. There are good reasons to believe that virtue ethics would be highly appreciated by patients. To determine the importance that patients attribute to the possession virtues among physicians. Patients hospitalized in a private and a public hospital were invited to answer a three-question survey. The questions were: first, what do you expect of a good physician? Second, please evaluate, in a scale from 1 to 5, the importance of physician virtues to consider him a good doctor (fidelity to trust given by the patient, benevolence, postponement of self-interests, compassion, intellectual honesty, justice and prudence). Third, among the seven former virtues, select the three more important, and then the most important of all. Most patients responded that they valued that a good physician should have good communication skills, a cordial relationship, commitment to the patient and knowledge. All virtues studied were considered important or very important by almost all patients. The virtues considered the most important were intellectual honesty and fidelity to trust given by the patient. These results support the theoretical argument that, for patients, the practice of virtue ethics is essential for a good medical practice.