Factors influencing physician choice.

This study investigates the importance individuals place on each of 19 criteria in their choice of a physician. Through personal interviews 205 adults in Eastern Kentucky were asked to rate the importance of choice criteria on a scale from very important to very unimportant and to rank the five most and least important of these. Comparisons of mean ratings for men and women show that women have a tendency to rate criteria as more important than men, particularly those variables related to the physician's interpersonal manner.