Ayesha Ashfaq, Noor Fatima, Seema Daud, Ahsen Nazir Ahmed, Zakariya Imam, Khayyam Shamshair, Salwa Hussain.
Assessment of socio-economic status of patients.
Professional Med J Jan ;15(2):270-2.

To determine whether or not doctors assess the socio-economic status of their patients in order to customize treatment and improve compliance. Design: A cross-sectional Setting: Jinnah Hospital and Shalimar Hospital Lahore. Period: From March to June 2005 Methods & Material: Ninety-three patients were included from each of the two randomly selected tertiary care hospitals (one public, one private) of Lahore. Doctor-patient encounters were observed. Results: No assessment was made for 134/186(72%) patients. 51/186(27.4%) received an inadequate assessment. Only 01/186(0.5 %) patient received a thorough assessment of his socioeconomic status. Doctors in the private hospital made better effort to assess the socioeconomic background of the patient (albeit inadequately), compared to those in the public hospital (p: < 0.0001). Conclusion: Doctors should be regular and meticulous in patients` socioeconomic status assessment.

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