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General practice consultations - how well do doctors predict patient satisfaction?
Bianca Cannon1, Timothy P Usherwood
1Department of General Practice, University of Sydney, Westmead Hospital, New South Wales, Australia. biancac@med.usyd.edu.au
Australian Family Physician
|March 7, 2007
Summary
Doctors often underestimate patient satisfaction during general practice consultations. While a doctor’s sense of dissatisfaction may be accurate, patients generally report higher satisfaction than predicted across most scales.
Area of Science:
- Medical Practice
- Healthcare Research
- Patient Experience
Background:
- Extensive research exists on patient satisfaction in general practice.
- Limited studies have explored physicians' perceptions of patient satisfaction.
- This study addresses the gap in understanding doctors' accuracy in predicting patient satisfaction.
Purpose of the Study:
- To measure the accuracy of doctors' predictions of patient satisfaction with general practice consultations.
- To compare patient-reported satisfaction scores with physician predictions.
Main Methods:
- Adult patients completed a consultation satisfaction questionnaire for new illness episodes.
- Physicians' predictions of patient satisfaction were collected.
- Patient scores were compared against doctor predictions.
Main Results:
- Patients reported higher satisfaction than doctors predicted on all measured scales.
- Moderate correlation was found between patient and doctor scores for general satisfaction, professional care, and depth of relationship.
- Poor correlation was observed for the perceived time scale.
Conclusions:
- Physicians may underestimate patient satisfaction in general practice consultations.
- A doctor's perception of patient dissatisfaction can be valid, but overall satisfaction is often higher than anticipated.
- Findings highlight a potential discrepancy between physician perception and patient reality regarding consultation satisfaction.
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