Factors Associated with Patient Satisfaction in an Outpatient Glaucoma Population

Purpose: To determine what metrics might impact satisfaction survey responses. Methods: A 37-question survey was administered to 249 participants. Responses were correlated to demographics, clinical factors, weather conditions, and examination timing. Results: Sample consists of 55.4% female and 73.9% white, and mean age was 65.1 years. Participants were assigned to: completely satisfied (77.9%) or not completely satisfied (22.1%) groups based on their rating of glaucoma specialist on a scale of 1-10, while 10 considered "completely satisfied" and less than 10 "not completely satisfied." Complete satisfaction was associated with ability to schedule appointments early, phone calls answered/returned same day, shorter perceived wait time, and better communication skills of ophthalmologist (p < 0.05). Completely satisfied participants reported their ophthalmologist spent enough time with them, listened carefully, and communicated in an understandable way (p < 0.05). Conclusions: The majority of factors found to be associated with patient satisfaction were related to characteristics of the ophthalmologists and their office.