Same Physician, Different Location, Different Patient Satisfaction Scores.

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Management
• Patient Experience Research
• Clinical Operations

Background:

• Patient satisfaction surveys are commonly used to evaluate healthcare providers.
• Physician performance metrics often rely on patient feedback.
• Variations in clinical settings may influence patient perceptions of care.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine if patient satisfaction scores differ for individual emergency physicians based on the clinical setting (urban emergency department vs. suburban urgent care centers).
• To assess the impact of clinical environment on patient-reported physician performance.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of Press Ganey satisfaction survey data from June 2013 to August 2014.
• Inclusion of physicians working in both urban emergency departments and affiliated suburban urgent care centers.
• Calculation of mean satisfaction score differences for individual physicians across settings, focusing on courtesy and overall care.

Main Results:

• Seventeen physicians met the inclusion criteria.
• Physicians consistently received higher mean satisfaction scores for courtesy in urgent care settings compared to emergency departments (mean difference 0.35).
• Urgent care scores were also higher for physician communication, concern for comfort, listening ability, and overall care.

Conclusions:

• Physicians consistently receive lower patient satisfaction ratings in emergency departments than in urgent care centers.
• The findings challenge the validity of using patient satisfaction scores to compare providers across different clinical settings.
• Further research is needed to understand factors influencing patient satisfaction in diverse healthcare environments.