Association between surgical patient satisfaction and nonmodifiable factors

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Management
• Surgical Outcomes
• Patient Experience

Background:

• Patient satisfaction surveys are crucial for assessing physician performance.
• This study investigated the association between nonmodifiable patient and practice factors and satisfaction scores in surgical outpatient settings.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify nonmodifiable factors influencing patient satisfaction in surgical outpatient care.
• To inform the interpretation of physician performance metrics derived from patient surveys.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of 18,373 Press Ganey Consumer Assessment of Health Providers and Systems outpatient satisfaction surveys from an academic surgery department.
• Logistic regression analysis to determine predictors of complete patient satisfaction (score=100) versus lower satisfaction (score≤99).

Main Results:

• Younger patients (18-29 years) and those seeing a surgeon for the first time reported lower satisfaction.
• Higher satisfaction was associated with visits to cancer center clinics and community ambulatory clinics compared to hospital subspecialty clinics.
• Urology and Vascular Surgery clinics had lower satisfaction rates compared to General Surgery clinics.

Conclusions:

• Physician performance evaluations using patient satisfaction scores must account for patient demographics, provider specialty, and practice setting.
• Nonmodifiable factors significantly influence patient satisfaction, necessitating a nuanced approach to performance measurement.