Concordance of Patient and Physician Perceptions of Care in an Orthopedic Clinic

It is essential to study whether physicians' perceptions align with their patients' views, as understanding patient perception leads to superior satisfaction and health outcomes. Previous studies have established differences in physician-patient perceptions, but no studies have been conducted in orthopedic clinics. The authors' primary goal was to evaluate differences in physician and patient perceptions of an orthopedic clinic visit. Their secondary objective was to determine the influence of visit length, demographics, and depression risk-level on patient satisfaction. The authors surveyed 143 new patients being seen by orthopedic surgeons at a level I trauma center. After their appointment, these patients completed surveys on satisfaction and likelihood of depression. The authors recorded wait times and visit lengths. Simultaneously, the physicians completed a self-evaluative satisfaction survey. Patients' and physicians' answers were compared using a Wilcoxon signed-rank test. Mann-Whitney and Spearman correlation analyses were used to assess factors that impact satisfaction. Physicians and patients showed no significant differences on most questions of the satisfaction survey, except that physicians reported feeling less satisfied with their own explanations (P<.001). Length of visit was positively correlated with patient satisfaction (R=0.276, P=.001), while waiting times had no effect. Patients at risk for depression were less satisfied with physicians' effort to include them in decision-making (P=.044). Age was a predictor of greater satisfaction with explanations (P=.032) and instructions (P=.009) from the physician. Thus, orthopedic clinics may not exhibit the same physician-patient perception patterns as primary care clinics, potentially because of differences in patient populations, conditions, or expectations.