Study finds physician empathy strongest driver of patient satisfaction

ORLANDO, Fla. —Physician empathy is the strongest driver of patient satisfaction in hand surgery, according to results of a study presented here.

“We hope our study raises awareness of the importance of communication skills even in technical oriented fields, such as hand surgery,” Mariano Menendez, MD, said.

Menendez and colleagues had 112 new patients rate their overall satisfaction with one of four hand surgeons directly after the office visit. Patients completed the Consultation and relational Empathy Measure, the Newest Vital Sign health literacy test, a sociodemographic survey and three patient-reported outcomes measurement information system-based questionnaires.

“We also measured waiting time in the office in minutes, the duration of the visit, the time from booking until the appointment and we classified management as operative, nonoperative, diagnostic and consulting observation,” Menendez said.

Results showed empathy correlated strongly with overall patient satisfaction with the surgeon. According to a multivariable analysis, greater physician empathy was independently associated with patient satisfaction, with patient empathy alone accounting for 65% of the variation in patient satisfaction scores. Menendez said older patient age was the one other factor associated with patient satisfaction.

“Interestingly, we found no differences with regard between satisfied and dissatisfied patients with regard to waiting time in the office, duration of the visit, time from booking until the appointment, health literacy and management,” Menendez said.

He added, as surgeons counseled less, they began to perform more tests on patients.

“We can see that surgeons may tend to substitute testing for counseling in some cases and it might be possible to move toward the use of more counseling if there is sufficient empathy,” he said. – by Casey Tingle

Reference:

Menendez M, et al. Paper #195. Presented at: American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons Annual Meeting; March 1-5, 2016; Orlando, Fla.

Disclosure: Menendez reports no relevant financial disclosures.