title: Patient satisfaction with the prenatal care provider and the risk of cesarean delivery.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study was undertaken to assess the relationship between patient satisfaction with the prenatal care provider and a gravid woman's risk of cesarean delivery.
  
  
  METHODS
  Medical records of 586 consecutive deliveries in a single obstetrics department were reviewed. The delivery mode was correlated to the providers' overall patient satisfaction score as measured by an ongoing mail survey. Mann-Whitney U tests and 2-tailed t tests were used.
  
  
  RESULTS
  On the basis of the prenatal provider, not the delivering physician, the cesarean section delivery rates fell into 3 groups: low rate, average rate, and high rate. There is a significant difference in both the cesarean delivery rate and the patient satisfaction survey scores between the prenatal providers in the high- and low-rate groups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Higher patient satisfaction scores is correlated with a lower cesarean delivery rate.
authors.affiliation: Kaiser-Permanente, Southern California Permanente Medical Group, Bakersfield, CA 93389, USA. Joel.R.Cohen@kp.org
authors.forename: Joel R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Cohen
mesh_terms: D002140:California / Q000453:epidemiology; D002585:Cesarean Section / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011295:Prenatal Care / Q000592:standards*; D012307:Risk Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires