To examine the relationship between patient satisfaction and doctor performance, the authors observed 2,271 interactions between 292 doctors and their patients in 98 clinics and hospitals in Paraguay and conducted an exit-survey with the same patients as they left the clinic. For a subsample of 64 facilities they also interviewed patients who visited the facility within the last week. There are three patterns in the data: (1) Patient satisfaction is positively correlated with doctor effort, measured as a combination of time spent, questions asked, and examinations performed after controlling for observed doctor and patient characteristics; (2) However, accounting for unobserved doctor characteristics dramatically reduces the level of significance and size of correlation between effort and satisfaction, showing that much of the positive relationship is driven by these unobserved doctor-specific factors; and (3) Reported satisfaction is significantly lower for patients interviewed at home compared with those interviewed at the clinic. This leads the authors to conclude that even if patient satisfaction reflects some aspects of the doctor's performance, unobserved heterogeneity combined with survey biases limit the widespread applicability of patient satisfaction as an indicator of doctor performance.
Details
-
Author
-
Document Date
2006/12/01
-
Document Type
Policy Research Working Paper
-
Report Number
WPS4086
-
Volume No
1
-
Total Volume(s)
1
-
Country
-
Region
-
Disclosure Date
2010/07/01
-
Disclosure Status
Disclosed
-
Doc Name
Patient satisfaction, doctor effort, and interview location : evidence from Paraguay
-
Keywords
activities of daily living;Delivery of Health Care;patient satisfaction;quality of care;access to water;patient characteristics;principal component analysis;high effort level;public sector performance;rational drug use;incentives for doctors;Health Service Delivery;health technology assessment;education and health;fixed effect model;linear probability model;analysis of variance;health status;health index;composite index;asset index;instrumental variable;household survey;estimate impact;estimation method;positive correlation;Social Sciences;medical advice;probit regression;marginal effect;individual characteristic;multivariate regression;durable asset;Higher Education;Medical care;good health;substantial variation;econometric analysis;employer contribution;functional form;household sample;district hospital;positive relationship;urban facility;minimum requirement;sample selection;idiosyncratic error;empirical relationship;provider characteristics;health facility;household size;quality indicators;clinical practice;primary contribution;economics literature;internal medicine;behavioral survey;alternative specification;quadratic form;survey design;summary statistic;physical examination;consultation time;estimation strategy;estimation bias;private communication;intrinsic attributes;red cross;formal employment;qualitative assessment;logistic regression;health post;qualitative information;regular employment;general practice;interaction effect;outpatient clinic;household interview;methodological approach;data type;education level;information asymmetry;nursing care;empirical investigation;standard error;facility survey;Public Facilities;unobserved variable;health affairs;competent doctors;medical practice;empirical exercise;empirical economics;incentive payment;medical degree;central hospitals;health outcome;
- See More
Downloads
COMPLETE REPORT
Official version of document (may contain signatures, etc)
- Official PDF
- TXT*
- Total Downloads** :
- Download Stats
-
*The text version is uncorrected OCR text and is included solely to benefit users with slow connectivity.
Citation
Das,Jishnu Pave Sohnesen,Thomas
Patient satisfaction, doctor effort, and interview location : evidence from Paraguay (English). Policy, Research working paper ; no. WPS 4086 Washington, D.C. : World Bank Group. http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/427461468147281027/Patient-satisfaction-doctor-effort-and-interview-location-evidence-from-Paraguay