The Relationship of Provider Gender to Patient Satisfaction in the Emergency Setting: A Survey Approach and a Call for Future Mixed Quantitative-Qualitative Approaches

¹Department of Emergency Medicine, Overlook Hospital, Summit, NJ, USA.

²Department of Emergency Medicine, Bayhealth Emergency Department, Dover, DE, USA.

³Department of Emergency Medicine, Rowan University SOM Kennedy University Hospital, Stratford, NJ, USA.

⁴Program Co-Director, Emergency Medicine Residency, Rowan University SOM

Corresponding Author: James Espinosa, Department of Emergency Medicine, Rowan University SOM Kennedy University Hospital, 18 East Laurel Road, Stratford, NJ 08084, USA, Tel: +1 646 241 5695; E-Mail: [email protected]

Received Date: 25 Feb 2016   
Accepted Date: 11 Mar 2016   
Published Date: 16 Mar 2016

Copyright © 2016 Espinosa J

Citation: Green K, Wysocki J, Espinosa J and Scali V. (2016). The Relationship of Provider Gender to Patient Satisfaction in the Emergency Setting: A Survey Approach and a Call for Future Mixed Quantitative-Qualitative Approaches. Mathews J Emergency Med. 1(1): 002

ABSTRACT

Patient satisfaction continues to be an ongoing area of research, marketing, and quality improvement interest for hospitals, patients, and clinicians alike. Patient satisfaction has been identified as an outcome of care, and has been included in outcome research models.

The objective of this study was too look at the relationship of physician gender with patient satisfaction in the emergency department setting using survey methodology and secondarily to look at the relationship between patient gender and ED physician gender preference. The results show that in all four of the directly measured metrics, patients rated the care as provided by female physicians higher than that provided by male physicians. In fact, in one metric, satisfaction with the care that was provided, the result was statistically significant, as evidenced by both parametric (p < .01) and two non-parametric (p = .01 to p = .02) assessments. The gender of patients did not appear to explain the results seen. The data suggest that there is a relationship between provider physician gender and patient satisfaction, in the direction of a positive relationship between female provider physician gender and directly measured patient satisfaction. Further research, perhaps with a mixed qualitative-quantitative methodology, may serve to elucidate the nature of the underlying reasons for this relationship.

KEYWORDS

Patient Satisfaction; Emergency Department (ED) Patient Satisfaction; Provider Gender and Patient Satisfaction; Provider Gender and Emergency Department Patient Satisfaction; Gender and Patient Satisfaction.