Improving Patient Satisfaction in Dermatology: A Prospective Study of an Urban Dermatology Clinic
Patient satisfaction has become an important measure of quality under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. In this study, we assessed and analyzed patient satisfaction, nonattendance rates, and cycle times in an outpatient dermatology clinic. This study provides a snapshot of patient satisfaction in an urban dermatology clinic. Under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, providers will be challenged to increase access to care and to validate quality of care through patient satisfaction.
Practice Points
- Patient experience can be measured through brief point-of-service patient satisfaction questionnaires.
- Stratifying and analyzing patient satisfaction allows for targeted interventions to be developed and implemented.
- Educational handouts in the patient's primary language may help increase satisfaction and improve compliance.
Conclusion
Dermatology practitioners can support the specialty and validate the work they do by achieving high patient satisfaction scores. A study of online reviews compared patient ratings from 23 specialties and found that dermatology ranked second to last, ahead of only psychiatry.14 Our data has highlighted several opportunities to implement interventions that might improve patient satisfaction, though future studies would be required. Expanding or changing office hours, hiring more providers, or improving telephone access are potential interventions that might improve the accessibility and convenience subscale of patient satisfaction. Reducing the variability of nonattendance rates through the creation of resources to provide patients with clear directions and travel options, reminder calls, and instituting fees for missed appointments in some patient populations might allow for more predictable scheduling to optimize flow and the number of patients seen in each clinic.
Other approaches to improve satisfaction scores based on our results could include simple measures such as increasing the perception of time spent with the patient by having the physician sit down briefly in the examination room.15,16 It might be helpful to streamline translation assistance for patients who do not speak English as a primary language. It may be useful to recognize that younger patients have different expectations for clinic visits. For example, offering online scheduling to improve accessibility and convenience may improve satisfaction, particularly in patients who are accustomed to using technology.
It is our hope that while dermatologists continue to provide high quality care, they will work to demonstrate the value of their care by becoming leaders in patient satisfaction. Connecting their satisfaction with health care to patients’ quality of life has the potential to validate our specialty to insurers.
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