Healthcare professionals not healthier than general public

Even though healthcare professionals are more likely than the general public to have a personal physician, they aren't more likely to seek healthcare services. For instance, female healthcare workers were less likely to have a mammogram than nonhealthcare professionals, according to a study in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Researchers from Boston's Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center looked at health behaviors of healthcare professionals, not distinguished by job type, MedPage Today reported. Healthcare workers did report healthier behaviors than the general population in exercising more and not drinking heavily. However, those in the profession were not more likely to have undergone screening tests such as Pap smears, dental examinations or sigmoidoscopies/colonoscopies. Article