A Pilot Study of Medical Misinformation Perceptions and Training Among Practitioners in North Carolina (USA)

Abstract

Medical misinformation (MM) is a problem for both medical practitioners and patients in the 21st century. Medical practitioners have anecdotally reported encounters with patient-held misinformation, but to date we lack evidence that quantifies this phenomenon. We surveyed licensed practitioners in the state of North Carolina to better understand how often patients mention MM in the clinical setting, and if medical practitioners are trained to engage with patients in these specific conversations. We administered an anonymous, online survey to physicians and physician assistants licensed to practice in the state of North Carolina. Questions focused on demographics, clinical encounters with MM, and training to discuss MM with patients. We received over 2800 responses and analyzed 2183 after removing ineligible responses. Our results showed that most respondents encountered MM from patients (94.2% (2047/2183)), with no significant differences between clinical specialty, time spent in practice, or community type. When asked about specific training, 18% (380/2081) reported formal experiences and 39% (807/289) reported informal experiences. MM has been salient due to the COVID-19 pandemic; however, it was present before and will remain after the pandemic. Given that MM is widespread but practitioners lack training on engaging patients in these conversations, a sustained effort to specifically train current and future practitioners on how to engage patients about MM would be an important step toward mitigating the spread of MM.

The Role of Graduate Medical Education in the Fight Against Health Misinformation

“…13 However, fewer than 20% of physicians receive formal training to address health misinformation with patients. 14 Since faculty expertise may be lacking in this domain, many residents are left to develop such critical skills on their own through trial and error. Failing to learn a productive approach to these difficult conversations during residency is a lost training opportunity and may lead to poor patient compliance with health recommendations.…”

Misinformation about medication during the COVID– 19 pandemic: A perspective of medical staff

“…In other words, health professionals may have contributed to the spread of misinformation, and such behavior can contribute to the decrease of trust in medical processes and in healthcare professionals [ 75 ]. Other researchers who focused on examining medical misinformation, found that most doctors (94.2%) stated that patients had medical misinformation, and the subjects about they had the most inaccurate information were represented by COVID– 19 vaccines, COVID– 19 origin, treatment or essential oils [ 76 ]. Furthermore, a previous study discovered that trust in doctors increased with age, and communication difficulties decreased, and that trust in doctors decreased while the level of education and communication difficulties increased [ 77 ].…”

Clinician Communication With Patients About Cancer Misinformation: A Qualitative Study

“…3,4 Given the prevalence of misinformation found online, these conversations likely include cancer-related misinformation. [5][6][7][8] However, few clinicians report having received training on addressing misinformation. 8 Scientific misinformation has been defined as publicly available information that is misleading or deceptive relative to the best available scientific evidence and that runs contrary to statements by actors or institutions that adhere to scientific principles.…”

“…[5][6][7][8] However, few clinicians report having received training on addressing misinformation. 8 Scientific misinformation has been defined as publicly available information that is misleading or deceptive relative to the best available scientific evidence and that runs contrary to statements by actors or institutions that adhere to scientific principles. 9 Similarly, health misinformation has been defined as a health-related claim of fact that is currently false because of a lack of scientific evidence.…”

“…3,4 Given the prevalence of misinformation found online, these conversations likely include cancer-related misinformation. 5-8 However, few clinicians report having received training on addressing misinformation. 8…”