Healthcare Workers Do Not Practice What They Preach

Despite knowing better, healthcare workers (HCWs) practice the same level of preventative and lifestyle behaviors as other American adults.

Researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC; Boston, MA, USA) analyzed data collected by the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, a yearly telephone survey of US adults conducted by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC; Atlanta, GA, USA). The researchers estimated risk ratios for selected health behaviors and lifestyle factors, comparing the answers of 21,380 healthcare workers (from a total of 260,558), and adjusting for age, sex, race, state, education, income, and employment. Because the HCWs did not report their jobs, the analysis did not distinguish between physicians, nurses, aides, and other workers.

The results showed that HCWs were more likely than other participants to have a personal physician and to have had a check-up in the previous two years. On the other hand, they were no more or less likely to have had a Pap test in the past three years, a dental visit in the past year, or ever to have had a sigmoidoscopy/colonoscopy. Surprisingly, female HCWs over 50 were significantly more likely than other women in that age group to not have had had a mammogram in the previous two years. Among the 13 lifestyle factors, HCWs did better than others only on three – having exercised, not drinking heavily, and not binge drinking in the previous 30 days. The study was published online on December 17, 2012, in Archives of Internal Medicine.

“Healthcare workers represent an important group in which to study individual health behaviors, both because they are more knowledgeable than others about health care choices and because they serve as role models for patients,” said study authors Benjamin Helfand, MSc, and Kenneth Mukamal, MD. “Interestingly, the advantage enjoyed by healthcare workers in having their own doctor was mainly among those with less than a college education, suggesting that working in healthcare may improve access preferentially among individuals at greatest risk for not having a regular provider.”

Related Links:
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention