Patient satisfaction with radiologist assistants

Patient satisfaction with other midlevel providers has been thoroughly examined, but patient satisfaction with radiologist assistants (RAs) has yet to be explored. The goal of this study was to determine the level of patient satisfaction with the care provided by RAs in the United States.

Patient satisfaction was measured using a custom-designed satisfaction survey. Twenty RAs volunteered to distribute surveys to patients, or family members of patients, who had diagnostic or therapeutic procedures performed in a variety of clinic or hospital radiology settings. Demographic and procedural data also were collected, and results were tabulated from 359 completed self-administered surveys.

Respondents were satisfied with the care they or a family member received from the RA. The mean score for overall satisfaction was 4.89 on a 5-point Likert scale. The mean score in the domain of communication was 4.83. The score for RA professionalism was 4.91. RAs scored highly across all categories of procedures performed. No statistically significant differences were noted with overall patient satisfaction based on patient age and gender, procedure type, and whether the respondent was a family member or patient. No differences in responses were noted based on the RA's years of experience, facility size, or location.

This study indicated a high level of patient satisfaction with health care services provided by RAs in diagnostic and interventional imaging procedures. In general, surveyed respondents rated RAs highly for their professionalism and thoroughness. This study also demonstrated that RAs who volunteered for the study are performing a variety of radiologic and interventional procedures with high overall patient satisfaction, that RAs perform procedures in a multitude of hospital and clinic settings in various geographic regions, and that they work with patients of all ages.

Results showed that patients gave RAs a high overall satisfaction rating for all the procedures performed. These findings are consistent with patient satisfaction surveys of other types of physician extenders in medicine. The instrument, methods, and findings of this study can be used as initial data for the continued evaluation and monitoring of the RA's role in health care.