Table 1.
Number of ratings, unique number of physicians, and descriptive statistics and relative proportions of rated physicians grouped by Canada Institute of Health Information (CIHI) specialty (2005-2013).
| Medical specialty | Ratings, n | Unique rated physicians, n |
Ratings per physician, mean (SD) |
Overall rating, mean (SD) |
Annual physician populationa (%), mean (SD) |
% of online cohort |
% of mean annual physician populationb |
|||||||||
| Family medicine | 370,972 | 30,818 | 12.0 (9.7) | 3.9 (1.3) | 33,180.0 (4745.8) | 53.7 | 45.2 | |||||||||
| Internal medicine | 53,818 | 6677 | 8.1 (7.7) | 4.0 (1.3) | 7528.1 (778.3) | 12.0 | 10.3 | |||||||||
| Allergy/immunologist | 2690 | 235 | 11.5 (9.6) | 3.8 (1.3) | ||||||||||||
| Cardiologist | 8192 | 1278 | 6.4 (5.8) | 4.20 (1.2) | ||||||||||||
| Colorectal/proctologist | 312 | 36 | 8.7 (9.5) | 4.02 (1.4) | ||||||||||||
| Gastroenterologist | 9395 | 854 | 11.0 (8.8) | 3.91 (1.3) | ||||||||||||
| Endocrinologist | 5670 | 563 | 10.1 (8.6) | 3.81 (1.3) | ||||||||||||
| Reproductive endocrinologist | 1418 | 72 | 19.7 (15.2) | 3.91 (1.3) | ||||||||||||
| Geriatrician | 678 | 168 | 4.0 (4.4) | 3.84 (1.4) | ||||||||||||
| Infectious disease | 1074 | 199 | 5.4 (6.1) | 4.04 (1.3) | ||||||||||||
| Internist | 7045 | 1112 | 6.3 (6.4) | 3.90 (1.4) | ||||||||||||
| Nephrologist | 1868 | 364 | 5.1 (4.4) | 4.36 (1.1) | ||||||||||||
| Oncology/hematologist | 7038 | 1086 | 6.5 (6.1) | 4.12 (1.2) | ||||||||||||
| Pulmonologist | 2463 | 383 | 6.4 (5.8) | 4.10 (1.3) | ||||||||||||
| Rheumatologist | 5915 | 472 | 12.5 (9.4) | 3.81 (1.4) | ||||||||||||
| Sleep disorders | 371 | 57 | 6.5 (6.9) | 3.7 (1.4) | ||||||||||||
| Anesthesia | 2589 | 622 | 4.16 (5.0) | 4.14 (1.3) | 2713.1 (287.0) | 1.1 | 4.1 | |||||||||
| Obstetrics and gynecology | 43,627 | 2472 | 17.6 (15.0) | 3.88 (1.3) | 1709.0 (292.3) | 4.3 | 2.5 | |||||||||
| Surgery | 98,045 | 8235 | 11.9 (10.7) | 4.01 (1.3) | 6618.2 (375.3) | 14.3 | 10.0 | |||||||||
| Surgeon (general) | 22,811 | 2185 | 10.4 (9.1) | 4.16 (1.3) | ||||||||||||
| Cardiothoracic surgeon | 1954 | 202 | 9.6 (7.8) | 4.54 (1.0) | ||||||||||||
| Cosmetic/plastics | 13,226 | 793 | 16.7 (16.1) | 4.05 (1.3) | ||||||||||||
| Otolaryngology | 10,064 | 736 | 13.6 (11.4) | 3.87 (1.4) | ||||||||||||
| Neurosurgeon | 4686 | 363 | 12.9 (10.7) | 4.17 (1.3) | ||||||||||||
| Ophthalmologist | 12,419 | 1305 | 9.5 (8.5) | 3.90 (1.3) | ||||||||||||
| Orthopedics/sport | 22,492 | 1770 | 12.7 (10.0) | 3.91 (1.4) | ||||||||||||
| Bariatric/weight loss | 346 | 26 | 13.3 (30.5) | 4.05 (1.4) | ||||||||||||
| Urologist | 9655 | 772 | 12.5 (9.5) | 4.00 (1.3) | ||||||||||||
| Vascular surgeon | 392 | 83 | 4.7 (5.0) | 4.13 (1.4) | ||||||||||||
| Neurology | 9504 | 944 | 10.1 (9.5) | 3.59 (1.4) | 829.2 (83.1) | 1.6 | 1.2 | |||||||||
| Pediatrics | 20,751 | 1767 | 11.7 (10.7) | 4.1 (1.2) | 2488.0 (508.9) | 3.1 | 3.8 | |||||||||
| Radiology | 1005 | 330 | 3.0 (2.8) | 4.18 (1.3) | 2153.7 (216.2) | 0.6 | 3.3 | |||||||||
| Emergency/critical carec | 7716 | 1404 | 5.5 (5.4) | 3.81 (1.5) | 860.2 (260.0) | 2.4 | 1.1 | |||||||||
| Psychiatry | 18,036 | 2853 | 6.3 (6.4) | 3.55 (1.5) | 4218.9 (550.5) | 5.0 | 6.3 | |||||||||
| Psychiatry (general) | 17,695 | 2784 | 6.4 (6.4) | 3.55 (1.5) | ||||||||||||
| Addiction medicine | 341 | 69 | 4.9 (5.6) | 3.49 (1.5) | ||||||||||||
| Dermatology | 11,587 | 705 | 16.4 (14.9) | 3.53 (1.4) | 540.0 (27.0) | 1.2 | 0.8 | |||||||||
| Pathology | 57 | 13 | 4.4 (8.1) | 4.18 (1.2) | 1271.4 (100.1) | <0.01 | 1.9 | |||||||||
| Genetics | 68 | 26 | 2.6 (4.9) | 4.61 (0.8) | 75.8 (12.6) | <0.01 | <0.01 | |||||||||
| Physical medicine/rehabilitation | 2517 | 344 | 7.3 (8.3) | 3.71 (1.5) | 372.3 (41.2) | 0.6 | 0.6 | |||||||||
| Totals/means (SD) | 640,603 | 57,412 | 11.2 (10.1) | 3.9 (1.3) | 66,026.1 (5748.2) | |||||||||||
aFor each specialty, number of unique physicians rated online per total number of unique physicians rated online, expressed as a percent.
bFor each CIHI physician specialty, mean annual number of physicians per mean total number of annual physicians (2005-2013) expressed as a percent.
cEmergency/critical care, as a grouped CIHI specialty, was only available for the years 2009-2013; therefore, annual means were calculated over 5 years only for this specialty.