TABLE 3.

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE ENROLLED CLINICIANS

Characteristic		Total (N=149)a	Surrogate does not have optimistic prognostic expectations (N=124)b	Surrogate has optimistic prognostic expectations (N=121)b	Pc
Age, year		Mean 38.9, SD 10.0	Mean 40.8, SD 9.7	Mean 40.4, SD 10.9	0.750
Sex (male)		103 (69.1)	94 (75.8)	86 (71.1)	0.470
Hispanic		8 (5.4)	10 (8.1)	6 (5.0)	0.439
Race  White  Black  Asian  Pacific Islander  Multiethnic		110 (76.9) 5 (3.5) 25 (17.5) 1 (0.7) 2 (1.4)	95 (79.2) 3 (2.5) 21 (17.5) 1 (0.8) 0	94 (79.0) 3 (2.5) 20 (16.8) 0 2 (1.7)	0.734
Medical practice duration, year		Mean 8.7, SD 9.6	Mean 10.5, SD 9.8	Mean 10.4, SD 10.0	0.928
Training level  Attending  Fellow  Resident  Nurse practitioner		77 (51.3) 41 (27.3) 30 (20.0) 2 (1.3)	79 (63.7) 28 (22.6) 15 (12.1) 2 (1.6)	72 (59.5) 35 (28.9) 14 (11.6) 0	0.427
Specialtyd  Internal medicine  Anesthesiology  Surgery  Neurology  Other		83 (67.5) 9 (7.3) 26 (21.1) 1 (0.8) 4 (3.3)	79 (73.8) 3 (2.8) 21 (19.6) 1 (0.9) 3 (2.8)	85 (78.0) 8 (7.3) 13 (11.9) 0 3 (2.8)	0.220
Self-rating of skillfulness in discussing prognosis (score 0–10, 10 indicates extremely skilled)		Mean 7.7, SD 1.4	Mean 7.9, SD 1.4	Mean 8.0, SD 1.4	0.933
Self-rating of skillfulness in guiding surrogates through making decisions about life support (score 0–10, 10 indicates extremely skilled)		Mean 7.8, SD 1.3	Mean 8.0, SD 1.3	Mean 8.0, SD 1.3	0.805

^aThere are 150 clinicians in the study but 149 completed the questionnaire

^bDue to the nature of the division, a clinician may be represented more than once

^cComparison tests used were t-test and Fisher’s exact test, comparing surrogates with optimistic prognostic expectations to those without optimistic prognostic expectations.

^dApplicable among attendings and fellows only (n=118). Total number exceeds 118 due to some physicians have more than one specialties.

Data are presented as no. (%) unless otherwise noted.