Who is satisfied with general surgery clinic visits?

Abstract

Background: Patient satisfaction is an important patient outcome because it informs researchers and practitioners about patients' experience and identifies potential problems with their care. Patient satisfaction is typically studied through physician-patient interactions in primary care settings, and little is known about satisfaction with surgical consultations.

Methods: Participants responded to questionnaires before and after a surgical consultation. The study was conducted in a diverse outpatient clinic within a county hospital in Southern California. Participants were patients who came to the surgery clinic for their first appointment after referral from a primary care provider for a surgical consultation.

Results: Patients' ethnicity, educational attainment, and insurance status predict their satisfaction, and patients reliably differed in their satisfaction with care providers and with the hospital where they received their care.

Conclusions: These findings add to knowledge about patient care by highlighting associations between patients' demographic characteristics and patients' differential satisfaction with particular entities within the context of surgical care.

Keywords: Patient demographics; Patient expectations; Patient satisfaction; Surgical consultation.