Factors Associated with Patient Press Ganey Satisfaction Scores for Ophthalmology Patients

Abstract

Purpose: To determine which metrics from the Press Ganey patient satisfaction survey best correlate with "likelihood to recommend" among patients in an academic tertiary medical center practice setting.

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Participants: Over a 3-month period, patients presenting to an academic practice who agreed to participate were enrolled in the study if they met the following entry criteria: (1) age ≥18 years, (2) ability to read and speak English, and (3) followed in this practice between 4 months and 4 years. A total of 196 patients were recruited.

Methods: A 26-item abridged version of the Press Ganey survey typically distributed to patients via mail or e-mail after visiting the Stanford University Hospital was administered privately to each eligible patient of 2 different attending clinics at the conclusion of his or her visit. The 26 survey items were not modified for the purposes of the study and were administered such that participants could not be individually identified. The arithmetic mean score for the item "Likelihood of your recommending our practice to others" was calculated by assigning a value (0-100) to the Likert value associated with survey responses and correlated with the 25 other items using the differences in the mean scores.

Main outcome measures: Response to survey items graded on a 1 to 5 standard Likert scale.

Results: The weighted mean patient survey score for the "likelihood to recommend" item for the junior faculty member was 95.9% and for the senior faculty member was 94.5%, respectively. For the remaining 25 items, "Amount of time the care provider spent with you" (Diff[1-2]=1.03; P < 0.0001) and "Ease of scheduling your appointment" (Diff[1-2]=0.99; P < 0.0001) best correlated with likelihood to recommend. In contrast, "Friendliness/courtesy of the care provider" (Diff[1-2]=0.29; P = 0.0045) correlated least with likelihood to recommend. Stratification based on provider did not affect the study results.

Conclusions: The perception of time spent with the practitioner and ease of appointment scheduling are the 2 variables that best correlate with patients recommending their ophthalmologists to other prospective patients.