A Pilot Study of Inpatient Satisfaction Rating of Surgical Resident Care

To describe inpatient satisfaction with surgical resident care given the increasing importance of patient satisfaction as a quality metric.

Surgical inpatients were invited to complete a survey that addressed their satisfaction with and attitudes regarding surgical resident care. The survey was based on the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems Surgical Care Survey (S-CAHPS). Patients were required to positively identify photos of resident physicians prior to providing ratings. Adapted S-CAHPS items were scored using the "top-box" method.

Massachusetts General Hospital, a tertiary academic center.

General surgery inpatients recovering from elective, major abdominal surgery were recruited on postoperative days 2 to 4.

Ninety-one percent of approached patients participated (102/112, mean age = 62.9, 51.6% male). Patients positively identified both seniors and interns 88% of the time. Thirteen seniors and 19 interns were rated, with 1 to 14 evaluations per trainee. Overall quality of care ratings for seniors and interns were 9.35 and 9.09, respectively (0-10 scale, 10 = "best possible care"). Sixty-three percent of senior resident evaluations and 60% of intern evaluations received a score of 10. The proportion of residents receiving top-box scores ranged from 59.5% to 97.7% depending on the item. Forty percent of senior resident and 38% of intern evaluations received top-box scores for all 8 items. Over 96% of patients reported strong or moderate agreement with the statements "I feel it is important to help in the education of future surgeons."

Surgical inpatients willingly completed ratings about their surgery residents, typically can recognize their resident physicians, and rate quality of care highly. Despite many high ratings, there is room for improvement in some S-CAHPS domains. These results indicate patients are a valuable source of feedback regarding a resident's progress in several core competencies such as interpersonal skills, communication, professionalism, and patient care.