Related Experiment Videos
[An empirical analysis of patients' preference of setting for outpatient arthroscopic surgery]
D L B Schwappach1, T J Strasmann
1Fakultät für Medizin, Universität Witten/Herdecke, Witten. Davids@uni-wh.de
Background:
The aim of this study was to investigate patient preferences of setting for outpatient surgery--office-based, hospital-based, or inpatient care environment--and the factors relevant to their decision.
Methods:
Preferences were elicited from a sample of the general population (n=1,134) with a discrete choice model, an efficient technique for estimating utility. Participants chose their preferred mode among different outpatient scenarios for hypothetical arthroscopic surgery.
Results:
The subjects were open to alternative options of care delivery and based their decisions on particular attributes, "specialization," "staff continuity," and "waiting time" having the largest effect on choices. A slight preference for hospital-based outpatient surgery was observed.
Conclusions:
The results show that patients' choice of providers is open and based on specific attributes of treatment delivery and institution and not the setting per se.