title: Congruent satisfaction: is there geographic correlation between patient and physician satisfaction?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Satisfaction among both physicians and patients is optimal for the delivery of high-quality healthcare. Although some links have been drawn between physician and patient satisfaction, little is known about the degree of satisfaction congruence among physicians and patients living and working in geographic proximity to each other.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  We sought to identify patients and physicians from similar geographic sites and to examine how closely patients' satisfaction with their overall healthcare correlates with physicians' overall career satisfaction in each selected site.
  
  
  METHODS
  We undertook a cross-sectional analysis of data from 3 rounds of the Community Tracking Study (CTS) Household and Physician Surveys (1996-1997, 1998-1999, 2000-2001), a nationally representative telephone survey of patients and physicians. We studied randomly selected participants in the 60 CTS communities for a total household population of 179,127 patients and a total physician population of 37,238. Both physicians and patients were asked a variety of questions pertaining to satisfaction.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Satisfaction varied by region but was closely correlated between physicians and patients living in the same CTS sites. Physician career satisfaction was more strongly correlated with patient overall healthcare satisfaction than any of the other aspects of the healthcare system (Spearman's rank correlation coefficient 0.628, P<0.001). Patient trust in the physician was also highly correlated with physician career satisfaction (0.566, P<0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Despite geographic variation, there is a strong correlation between physician and patient satisfaction living in similar geographic locations. Further analysis of this congruence and examination of areas of incongruence between patient and physician satisfaction may aid in improving the healthcare system.
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, Oregon 97239, and Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Health Policy & Clinical Effectiveness, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. devoej@ohsu.edu
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: DeVoe
authors.forename: George E
authors.initials: GE
authors.lastname: Fryer
authors.forename: Alton
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Straub
authors.forename: Jessica
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: McCann
authors.forename: Gerry
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Fairbrother
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D006801:Humans; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States