Patient satisfaction with physician responses during interactions prompted by pharmaceutical advertisements

•Pharmaceutical direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) is associated with patient satisfaction.•Receipt of diagnosis has no significant influence on patient satisfaction.•When patients mention DTCA, satisfaction decreases if the requested drug is not prescribed.•Satisfaction is differentially impacted by the reason given for denial of prescription.•Decreased patient satisfaction may threaten physician authority.

The rise of pharmaceutical direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) has significantly influenced the way that physicians and patients interact. This study explores the factors associated with patients’ satisfaction during a physician visit that was prompted by DTCA. Results indicate that patients who do not receive a prescription when mentioning a DTCA drug are significantly less likely to be satisfied with their physician visit. In contrast, the receipt of a diagnosis has no significant impact on patient satisfaction. Other factors associated with patient satisfaction were whether or not the patient received the exact drug that he or she requested or a different drug, and the specific reason for denial of a prescription for the requested drug. Instead of accepting a doctor's recommendations and complying without question, patients are now unhappy with their physicians’ decisions when these decisions do not adhere to the patient's expectations, which are formed by DTCA.