The New York Times reported on research conducted at the University of Chicago that shows, “Hospital patients are rarely able to identify their doctors by name or to describe their roles in the patients’ care.”

Here’s an excerpt:

Researchers at the University of Chicago interviewed 2,807 adults admitted to the school’s hospital over a 15-month period. The patients were asked about the roles of the various physicians attending to them and to name the doctors on those teams. Medical teams consisted of three to four people, including medical students, residents and attending physicians.

Some 75 percent of the patients were unable to name a single doctor assigned to their care. Of the 25 percent who responded with a name, only 40 percent were correct. Those patients who claimed to understand the roles of their doctors were more likely to correctly identify at least one of their physicians

Read the whole story here.