KNOWLEDGE OF ACCOUNTING APPROPRIATION AS A RESULT OF PROFESSIONAL MEDICAL PRACTICE: A COMPARATIVE STUDY AMONG DOCTORS OF A PUBLIC, PRIVATE AND COOPERATIVE HOSPITAL

Abstract

The idea pursued in this study is inserted in the context studied by the sociology of the professions, as it refers to the migration of knowledge along the border of the daily contacts among individuals of different technical performances. The appropriation of accounting knowledge by doctors is highlighted, because, to the contemporary challenge of a shortage of resources for the health sector, various other forms of interference are added, from glosses of resources to a reorientation of clinical procedures, with possible reflexes of an intrusion into the reserved space of a clinical encounter, under the responsibility of a doctor. Using a graphic-aided analysis, as well as hypotheses testing with a non-parametric test, we describe degrees of knowledge possessed by doctors acting in the public, private and cooperative hospitals, to establish if there is a convergence or divergence among the three observed groups. The analyses consider various perceptions of seven questions which explore the impact of issues concerning costs, accounting, finances, budget and price, on the doctors' clinical decisions; as well as the importance attributed to the knowledge of accounting measurements as an ally towards a more effective and useful for society medicine. The results obtained indicate that the process of appropriation of accounting knowledge by the doctors working in the public, private and cooperative hospitals does not happen, exclusively, because of an agreement that such knowledge is an important ally for a more effective and useful for the society medicine. Keywords: Accounting knowledge. Responsibility of a doctor. Doctors acting in hospitals.