Obstetricians/Gynecologists’ Problems in Sickness Certification Consultations: Two Nationwide Surveys
Table 2
Proportions (%) of O/Gs (having sickness certifications at least weekly) reporting frequencies of different situations in sickness certification consultations in 2008 () and in 2012 (), respectively, and p values for differences between 2008 and 2012.
How often in your clinical work…
Year
At least once a week
A few times per month or year
Never or almost never
Missing information
Between-group comparison
(%)
(%)
(%)
(%)
p valu
…do you find it problematic to handle sickness certifications?
2008
234 (31.7)
459 (62.1)
38 (5.1)
8 (1.1)
0.367
2012
202 (30.5)
421 (63.6)
37 (5.6)
2 (0.3)
…do you encounter a patient who wants to be on sick leave for some other reason than work incapacity due to disease or injury?
2008
156 (21.1)
487 (65.9)
82 (11.1)
14 (1.9)
0.001
2012
106 (16.0)
450 (68.0)
101 (15.3)
5 (0.8)
…do patients say no, partly or completely, to a sick leave you suggest?
2008
51 (6.9)
457 (61.8)
221 (29.9)
10 (1.4)
0.001
2012
37 (5.6)
371 (56.0)
251 (37.9)
3 (0.5)
…do you say no to a patient who wants a sickness certificate?
2008
79 (10.7)
591 (80.0)
50 (6.8)
19 (2.6)
0.078
2012
62 (9.4)
550 (83.1)
47 (7.1)
3 (0.5)
…do you experience conflicts with patients about sickness certification?
2008
71 (9.6)
506 (68.5)
151 (20.4)
11 (1.5)
0.009
2012
57 (8.6)
425 (64.2)
175 (26.4)
5 (0.8)
…do you worry that a patient will report you to the medical disciplinary board regarding sickness certification?
2008
11 (1.5)
92 (12.4)
630 (85.3)
6 (0.8)
0.311
2012
5 (0.8)
78 (11.8)
576 (87.0)
3 (0.5)
…do you feel threatened by a patient in connection with sickness certification?
2008
7 (0.9)
108 (14.6)
615 (83.2)
9 (1.2)
0.041
2012
2 (0.3)
73 (11.0)
577 (87.2)
10 (1.5)
…do you issue sickness certificates to patients without seeing them (e.g., by telephone)?
2008
40 (5.4)
495 (67.0)
196 (26.5)
8 (1.1)
0.612
2012
29 (4.4)
456 (68.9)
175 (26.4)
2 (0.3)
…do you worry that patients will change physician if you don’t issue a sickness certificate?
2008
8 (1.1)
61 (8.3)
665 (90.0)
5 (0.7)
0.630
2012
7 (1.1)
48 (7.3)
601 (90.8)
6 (0.9)
…do patients say that they will change physician if you don’t issue a sickness certificate?
