Variations in primary care physicians’ sick leave prescribing practices

Abstract

There is a lot of variation in physicians' sick leave prescribing practices and it depends both on physician-related factors and local structural factors. The speciality status of a physician was the most significant single factor affecting the variation. Notable savings for the society might be possible to achieve by increasing sick-listing education and training.

Association between Sick Leave Prescribing Practices and Physician Burnout and Empathy

“…To our knowledge, this is the first study to investigate the association between physician burnout and empathy and sick leave prescribing practices. One Spanish article analyzed the factors determining patient sick leave[ 39 ] but did not investigate physician-related factors, and while more recent studies have analyzed the association between sick leave prescribing habits and professional factors, such as physician sex[ 40 ] and place of practice[ 41 ], they did not investigate burnout or empathy. The present study is the first in an ongoing project evaluating empathy and professional burnout in primary health care professionals.…”

Factors affecting sick leave prescribing by dentists

“…Among primary care physicians in Finland, considerable variation was reported (3). Clinical specialists and those practicing in large municipalities prescribed shorter sick leaves than others (3). Similar findings among various physician groups in other countries have been reported (1,2,(4)(5)(6)(7), though some studies found opposite results (1,5,8,9).…”

“…This could be due to their daily practice with demanding operations, and thus, they are possibly more familiar with prescribing sick leave than other dentists. However, in contrast, primary care physicians with specialty degrees prescribed shorter sick leave than other physicians . One reason for this difference between healthcare professionals may be that the clinical work of oral and maxillofacial surgeons comprises many procedures and the treatment of challenging conditions that other dentists do not perform or treat, whereas in primary health care, both specialists and general practitioners perform the same tasks.…”

Economic impact of 13‐valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine in Finnish adults ≥50 years with underlying chronic medical conditions

“…6 days) and the mean amount of sick leave days after discharge (i.e. 9.3 days) typically prescribed due to CAPP [25], leading to a total of 15.3 days. Each day lost was valued at €125 (Statistics Finland).…”