title: Acute care and trauma surgeons: we can't get no satisfaction--what do satisfaction surveys measure?
abstract: Patient satisfaction surveys are increasingly being used as a measure of physician performance in a hospital setting. We sought to determine what role the clinical condition the physician is treating has on overall patient satisfaction scores. Patient satisfaction scores were calculated  for elective and emergent general surgery and trauma patients for eight surgeons taking care of all three types of patients. Both physician satisfaction (PP) and hospital satisfaction (GP) scores were calculated. Mean scores (± standard deviation) between groups were compared with P  < 0.05 significance. Of 1521 trauma patients and 3779 general surgery patients, there was 14.8 and 15.1 per cent response rate, respectively, to the survey. Trauma patients had a significantly lower PP than general surgery patients (81.0 ± 19.4 vs 85.7 ± 16.4; P  < 0.001). However, the GP between trauma and general surgery was not significant (84.0 ± 13 vs 84.0 ± 12.3; nonsignificant) When general surgery patients were divided into emergent versus elective, the PP was significantly higher for elective than emergent (87.9  ± 14.6 vs 82.7 ± 18; P < 0.001). A patient's underlying clinical condition may influence response to patient satisfaction surveys. Further research needs to be performed before patient satisfaction surveys can be adopted as a overall measure of physician competency.
authors: Lancaster General Hospital, Lancaster, Pennsylvania 17602, USA. frogers2@lghealth.org
authors: Frederick B
authors: FB
authors: Rogers
authors: Margaret
authors: M
authors: Krasne
authors: Eric
authors: E
authors: Bradburn
authors: Amelia
authors: A
authors: Rogers
authors: John
authors: J
authors: Lee
authors: Daniel
authors: D
authors: Wu
authors: Tracy
authors: T
authors: Evans
authors: Mathew
authors: M
authors: Edavettal
authors: Michael A
authors: MA
authors: Horst
authors: Turner
authors: T
authors: Osler
mesh_terms: D002983:Clinical Competence; D017558:Elective Surgical Procedures / Q000592:standards; D004630:Emergencies; D013502:General Surgery / Q000592:standards*; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006801:Humans; D017060:Patient Satisfaction / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010820:Physicians / Q000592:standards*; D013514:Surgical Procedures, Operative / Q000592:standards*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014194:Traumatology / Q000592:standards*; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000601:surgery