Patient and Family Satisfaction in a Pediatric Otolaryngology Clinic

Abstract

Objective: Identify factors related to patient and family satisfaction in an academic pediatric otolaryngology clinic. Suggest strategies to improve patient and family satisfaction in this setting.

Method: Review of an ongoing continuous quality improvement (CQI) effort. Patients/families were surveyed following each visit between May and December 2010. Linear and multiple linear regression were used to evaluate relationships between wait times in the reception area and examination room, assessment of the provider, and clinic volume with overall satisfaction.

Results: During the study interval, 754 clinical encounters in the pediatric otolaryngology clinic resulted in 528 responses for a response rate of 70%. Linear regression showed a significant relationship between each of the independent variables and overall satisfaction, with the greatest variance in overall satisfaction explained by satisfaction with the provider, followed by wait time in the examination room, wait time in the reception area, and clinic volume (r2 0.53, 35, 26, .01, respectively). Multiple linear regression showed that clinic volume was not associated with overall satisfaction independent of the other variables.

Conclusion: Variations in satisfaction with the provider accounted for the greatest amount of variance in overall satisfaction. The identification that variation in examination room wait times explained a larger portion of the variance in overall satisfaction has led to efforts to minimize this aspect of the patient and family experience.