Physician Satisfaction With Clinical Laboratory Services: A College of American Pathologists Q-Probes Study of 81 Institutions.
BACKGROUND
-Assessment of customer satisfaction is a vital component of the laboratory quality improvement program.


OBJECTIVE
-To survey the level of physician satisfaction with hospital clinical laboratory services.


METHODS
-Participating institutions provided demographic information and survey results of physician satisfaction, with specific features of clinical laboratory services individually rated on a scale of 5 (excellent) to 1 (poor).


RESULTS
-Eighty-one institutions submitted 2425 surveys. The median overall satisfaction score was 4.2 (10th percentile, 3.6; 90th percentile, 4.6). Of the 16 surveyed areas receiving the highest percentage of excellent/good ratings (combined scores of 4 and 5), quality of results was highest along with test menu adequacy, staff courtesy, and overall satisfaction. Of the 4 categories receiving the lowest percentage values of excellent/good ratings, 3 were related to turnaround time for inpatient "STAT" (tests performed immediately), outpatient STAT, and esoteric tests. The fourth was a new category presented in this survey: ease of electronic order entry. Here, 11.4% (241 of 2121) of physicians assigned below-average (2) or poor (1) scores. The 5 categories deemed most important to physicians included quality of results, turnaround times for inpatient STAT, routine, and outpatient STAT tests, and clinical report format. Overall satisfaction as measured by physician willingness to recommend their laboratory to another physician remains high at 94.5% (2160 of 2286 respondents).


CONCLUSIONS
-There is a continued trend of high physician satisfaction and loyalty with clinical laboratory services. Physician dissatisfaction with ease of electronic order entry represents a new challenge. Test turnaround times are persistent areas of dissatisfaction, representing areas for improvement.
From the Department of Pathology, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina (Dr McCall); the Department of Biostatistics (Ms Souers) and Surveys (Ms Blond), College of American Pathologists, Northfield, Illinois; and Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Service, New Mexico VA Health Care Systems and Department of Pathology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque (Dr Massie).
Shannon J
SJ
McCall
Rhona J
RJ
Souers
Barbara
B
Blond
Larry
L
Massie
D064790:Clinical Laboratory Services / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D000072142:Pathologists; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D010820:Physicians; D012955:Societies, Medical; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013997:Time Factors; D014481:United States