A study published in the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery examines patient satisfaction for outpatient orthopedic services and documented which factors were associated with patient satisfaction scores.
The researchers examined patient satisfaction scores from 12,177 outpatient clinical encounters at an academic orthopedic outpatient clinic between December 2010 and October 2013. The researchers found:
1. Age was strongly associated with patient satisfaction. Younger patients age 18 to 29 years old were less satisfied compared with patients who were 80 years or older.
2. Travel distance was a key factor in patient satisfaction as well. Patients who lived closer to the clinic reported less satisfaction than patients who lived further than 50 miles away.
3. These findings were the same across both sexes and all orthopedic specialties.
"The finding that non-modifiable patient factors such as age and geographic location affect patient satisfaction challenges the utility of comparing patient satisfaction between populations that differ significantly with regard to such characteristics," concluded the study authors.