Variables | Variables symbol | Explanation | |
---|---|---|---|
Dependent variable | Patients appointment totals | LnOBSH_Totals | The number of patient appointments; we use the log value. |
Independent variables | Physician treatment outcome | Treatment_outcome | Patients give an evaluation score for physicians’ technical quality when patients share experiences. |
Physician’s attitude | Attitude | Patients give an evaluation score for physicians’ functional quality when patients share experience. | |
Disease type | Disease_dummy | The disease risk that patients get. We use one dummy variable to measure the disease risk. When the disease is high-risk, the variable equal to 1. | |
Control variables | Hospital level | Hlevel_dummy1, | Hospital has their own levels, which is judged by the country and can represent their ability: level 1, 2 and 3. Level 1 is the best. Some hospitals do not have a level, because their medical abilities do not reach the level 3, so we use three dummy variables to represent level 1, 2, 3, and no level. |
Hlevel_dummy2, | |||
Hlevel_dummy3 | |||
Hospital score | H_Score | When patients write experiences, they also give a score on the hospital’s environment and attitude of guide service. | |
Physician titles | Title_dummy1, | Physicians have their own titles, which is judged by the country, and can represent their medical skill. These titles include chief physician, associate chief physician, attending physician and other titles. The number of other title physicians is small, so we use two dummy variables to represent chief physician and associate chief physician. | |
Title_dummy2 | |||
Physician experience totals | LnExperience Totals | The number of patient experiences for the physician; we use the log value. |