A survey conducted at US has revealed that doctors and physicians are not attuned with their patients. It has been found that if doctors are asked to make treatment decision for their patients, assuming themselves as patients, the decision thus taken doesn’t always line up with the advice they get in their clinic.

The survey published in the Archives of Internal Medicine has unveiled that doctors assumed as patients, when faced hypothetical treatment situations, they more often chose therapies that carried a higher risk of death but fewer severe side effects.

For the survey the primary care physicians of the US were provided with two sets of questions. Out of them, one asked about different types of hypothetical colon cancer surgery while the other set was about a treatment for bird flu.

The questions were framed in such a way that half of them asked the doctors to answer the questions assuming themselves as patients where as the rest seek their advice for the patients.

It has come to light that less than half patients who received the questionnaire returned it. Around 63% doctors answered questions related to the treatment of bird flu whereas 49% answered questions related to colon cancer surgery.

Out of 242 physicians who answered colon cancer questionnaire, 38% went with the survey that carried a higher risk of death. The survey throws ample light upon the fact that physicians are not attuned to their patients. Alan Schwartz, a Psychologist at the University of Illinois, said that physicians are not good at guessing what their patients want.