Session Information
Date: Sunday, November 15, 2020
Session Title: Live Poster Session: Quality Improvement
Session Time: 1:15pm-2:00pm
Disclosures: Sterling Haring, DO, MPH: No financial relationships or conflicts of interest
Objective: Elucidate and characterize the attitudes of practicing pain medicine physicians on the collection and utilization of patient satisfaction scores (PSS).
Design: Online survey. Setting : A survey was designed and disseminated via email from the Spine Intervention Society and subsequently posted on the society’s website. Participants : Participants were practicing pain medicine physicians who are members of the Spine Intervention Society (SIS).
Interventions: Survey questions were designed to elucidate current practices related to the collection and utilization of PSS in respondents’ practice environments, and to characterize respondents’ attitudes to these practices. We also sought to determine if and how these practices impacted respondents’ professional plans and practices.
Main Outcome Measures: Binary responses regarding the collection of PSS and their utilization with regard to performance review or reimbursement; self-reported effect of these practices on career plans; self-reported perceptions of the accuracy of PSS and their reflection on quality of care; impact of score utilization on job satisfaction and/or burnout.
Results: Of 107 respondents, 82 (76.6%) reported that their institution collected PSS. Thirty-nine (36%) reported that their employment performance evaluations were tied to PSS, and 23 (21.5%) that their reimbursement is directly tied to the scores. Only 16 respondents (15.0%) reported that PSS accurately reflected the quality of care they provided to the patient, and nearly a third (31, 29.0%) reported having considered leaving their job or career because of the current utilization of PSS. Sixty-three (58.9%) reported that PSS have a negative effect on their job satisfaction, and 84 (78.5%) felt that the collection and utilization of these scores is contributing to physician burnout. Ninety-three of the 107 respondents (86.9%) felt that the emphasis on collection of PSS was inconsistent with the Hippocratic Oath. Conclusions: The collection and utilization of PSS contributes to decreased job satisfaction and increased burnout. These practices may also be contributing to plans for early retirement or career change.
Level of Evidence: Level IV
To cite this abstract in AMA style:
Haring S, Ehsanian R, Schmidt AD, Kennedy D, Huynh L, Schneider B. Impact of Patient Satisfaction Score Utilization on Physician Burnout and Career Change [abstract]. PM R. 2020; 12(S1)(suppl 1). https://pmrjabstracts.org/abstract/impact-of-patient-satisfaction-score-utilization-on-physician-burnout-and-career-change/. Accessed May 15, 2025.« Back to AAPM&R Annual Assembly 2020
PM&R Meeting Abstracts - https://pmrjabstracts.org/abstract/impact-of-patient-satisfaction-score-utilization-on-physician-burnout-and-career-change/