United States patients are, on average, highly satisfied with their outpatient medical care, according to a study published online Oct. 3 in Health Outcomes Research in Medicine.
The researchers investigated patients' satisfaction with outpatient medical care using a validated online patient satisfaction survey for 14,984 patient visits. Demographics of the same population were compared with the demographics of patients seeing U.S. physicians, using data from the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey. The analysis was confined to data on physicians with 10 or more ratings between 2004 and 2010. A 10-point scale was used to score patients' satisfaction with their physicians, with 10 signifying the best and zero signifying the worst.
The investigators found that the overall patient satisfaction rating was 9.28. Around 70.1 percent of the ratings were 10s and 15.3 percent were 9s. Ratings of 0 or 1 made up less than 2 percent of the ratings.
Patient satisfaction scores were significantly correlated with wait time, time spent with physicians and age category.
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The researchers investigated patients' satisfaction with outpatient medical care using a validated online patient satisfaction survey for 14,984 patient visits. Demographics of the same population were compared with the demographics of patients seeing U.S. physicians, using data from the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey. The analysis was confined to data on physicians with 10 or more ratings between 2004 and 2010. A 10-point scale was used to score patients' satisfaction with their physicians, with 10 signifying the best and zero signifying the worst.
The investigators found that the overall patient satisfaction rating was 9.28. Around 70.1 percent of the ratings were 10s and 15.3 percent were 9s. Ratings of 0 or 1 made up less than 2 percent of the ratings.
Patient satisfaction scores were significantly correlated with wait time, time spent with physicians and age category.
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