The impact of physician attitudes on patient satisfaction with care for low back pain
T. Bush, D. Cherkin and W. Barlow
Group Health Cooperative of Puget Sound, Center for Health Studies, Seattle, Wash.
We wished to determine whether patient satisfaction was related to
physicians' confidence in their abilities to effectively manage low back
pain, and to examine their attitudes about patients with back pain. The
confidence and attitudes of primary care providers were determined using
self-administered questionnaires. Patient satisfaction with care was
assessed during telephone interviews conducted 3 weeks after a clinic visit
for low back pain. The study was conducted in a primary care clinic of a
large health maintenance organization. Completed surveys were obtained from
21 primary care providers (18 physicians and three physician assistants)
and 270 of their patients with low back pain. Three satisfaction scales
specific to low back pain were used to measure patient satisfaction with
regard to information received from provider, caring, and effectiveness of
treatment. The results showed that the providers' attitudes about patients
with low back pain were not associated with any of the patient satisfaction
measures. However, patients of more confident providers were significantly
more satisfied with the information they received than were patients of
less confident providers. These differences could not be explained by years
in practice, length of visit, patient demographics, or the severity and
duration of low back pain. These findings suggest that providers who have
more confidence in their abilities to effectively manage low back pain may
in fact be more effective patient educators.
