A large majority of physicians named healthcare access and substance abuse in their top five social issues, according to Medscape's "Physicians' Views on Today's Divisive Social Issues Report 2022."
Medscape's survey, conducted between Jan. 22 and March 2, queried more than 2,340 physicians who were asked to rank their leading social issues.
Here are their answers:
Percentages represent physicians who ranked each issue among their five most important.
- Healthcare access: 85 percent
- Substance/opioid abuse: 66 percent
- Racial disparities: 54 percent
- Gun control: 53 percent
- Climate change: 51 percent
- Domestic violence: 47 percent
- Immigration/refugee policies: 44 percent
- Reproductive rights: 39 percent
- Gender discrimination: 27 percent
- Other: 18 percent
- LGBTQ+ rights: 16 percent