TITLE:
Residents Achieve a High Patient Satisfaction in Pre-Anesthetic Patient Assessment. An Observational Study
AUTHORS:
Ulrike Reuter, Babette Jurack, Nils Engelmann, Thilo Busch, Joerg Schnoor
KEYWORDS:
Patient Satisfaction, Pre-Anesthetic Patient Education, ZUF-8 Questionnaire, Physicians’ Educational Level
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Anesthesiology,
Vol.4 No.11,
November
11,
2014
ABSTRACT: A physician’s empathetic attitude is regarded as an important influencing factor towards patient satisfaction. However, physicians’ self-assessed empathy declines during medical school and through residency, which may limit patient satisfaction in the doctor-patient contact. In conse-quence, we hypothesized that residents might fail in generating high levels of patient satisfaction. We conducted an observational study in the setting of a pre-anesthetic assessment center, Univer-sity Hospital Leipzig, Germany. Patient satisfaction was measured using the overall ZUF-8 score (8 - 32 points; increasing with patient satisfaction). Data were collected by questionnaires (ZUF-8 items, additional satisfaction items, and items of organizational and logistical processes). Key items for patient satisfaction as primary endpoints were defined. Statistical evaluation was performed in dependency of the anesthesiologists’ level of training (residents vs. consultants) by using the Mann-Whitney-U test or the chi square test, as required. Statistical significance was accepted for p