Background and objectives: Finding information about new physicians can sometimes be challenging. The purpose of the current study was to determine if the information and qualities prospective patients want to know about family physicians, before selecting one to visit, are present within videos placed in their online biographies.
Methods: More than 150 family physician videos, and their accompanying text biographies, were coded from 20 health systems within the United States. Videos and biographies were coded for the presence or absence of 50 pieces of information (eg, was a philosophy of care mentioned, were personal hobbies/interests noted?).
Results: The majority of videos (80.4%) contained the doctor's philosophy of care. Nearly half (47.7%) contained at least one piece of personal information about the doctor (ie, where the doctor is originally from, the doctor's marital status, the number of children the doctor has, other family members the doctor has, the doctor's religion/faith, and personal hobbies/interests). Only 30.7% of videos showed footage of the doctor's office, and 25.5% showed footage of the doctor interacting with a patient.
Conclusions: The full potential of video is not being utilized by health systems in constructing videos of their physicians to place alongside online biographies. Previous research indicates patients want to know not only what a doctor's office looks like but also how that doctor will treat them in a consultation. The inclusion of footage of the doctor's office, as well as of the doctor interacting with a patient, could help to reduce the uncertainty and apprehension sometimes present when choosing a new physician.