Improving Satisfaction Ratings of Surgical Patients from Referral to Follow-Up in the Faculty Medical Center Clinic

ObjectiveThe objective of this study was to evaluate patient satisfaction in an outpatient community-based surgical clinic to seek opportunities for improvement.MethodsA paper survey was distributed to patients at the Faculty Medical Center Clinic over a 12-week period. The survey allowed patients to rate their experience on a 5-point scale from “very dissatisfied” to “very satisfied.” The survey addressed referral to the clinic, appointment scheduling, visit experience, wait times, laboratory testing, and satisfaction with surgery. Separate from the surveys, data were collected regarding wait time in clinic prior to being placed in an examining room, time spent waiting for the physician, time spent with the physician, overall time spent in clinic, and appointment time to surgery.ResultsDuring the 12-week time period, 87 surveys were returned from patients in the surgery clinic for a 69% response rate. Most patients were referred to the surgery clinic from the emergency department or their primary care physicians at 44% and 43%, respectively. Just over half of the patients responded that they were “very satisfied” with their overall experience. Of those surveyed, 40% of patients were “very satisfied” with their wait time for the first visit to the clinic, 52% with time in waiting room, 43% with time in examining room, and 47% with time spent with physician. Only 16.4% of patients were “very dissatisfied” or “mostly dissatisfied” with time waiting for appointment, 17.9% with time available for appointment, 14.3% with time in waiting room, 18.2% in time waiting in examination room for the physician, and 20.9% of time wait to schedule surgery. Data were also collected on 203 surgical clinic patients during this time. Of the 203 patients, 55% were new patients, 31% were postoperative patients, and 14% were in the clinic for another type of visit.ConclusionsOverall patient satisfaction was good for the clinic, yet there were areas to improve. Efficiency of scheduling patients, improving wait time for waiting room, examining room, and time prior to scheduling surgery are areas that need improvement. Modification of the current practice at the surgery clinic could result in improvement of patient satisfaction in future evaluation.