Survey gauges physician satisfaction with hospitals, shows communication still problematic

Physicians who work in government-owned hospitals are less satisfied than their peers at other types of hospitals, new research indicates. In addition, physicians continue to report a lack of communication between hospital administrators and medical staff, and they appear to be increasingly dissatisfied with the use of electronic medical records (EMRs). Press Ganey Associates Inc. released its 2009 Hospital Pulse Report on physician perspectives of U.S. hospitals. The 2009 survey was...

Physicians who work in government-owned hospitals are less satisfied than their peers at other types of hospitals, new research indicates. In addition, physicians continue to report a lack of communication between hospital administrators and medical staff, and they appear to be increasingly dissatisfied with the use of electronic medical records (EMRs).

Press Ganey Associates Inc. released its 2009 Hospital Pulse Report on physician perspectives of U.S. hospitals. The 2009 survey was based on responses from 27,328 physicians practicing at 283 facilities nationwide between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31, 2008.

Overall, physicians who practiced in government-owned hospitals reported lower satisfaction levels as compared with those who worked in community-owned or teaching hospitals. The mean satisfaction scores were 67.7 for physicians working at government-owned facilities and 74.1 for those working at non-government-owned facilities.

In particular, physicians at the government-owned facilities commented on inadequate hospital funding for equipment and facility needs; slow, bureaucratic processes in response to operational needs; a lack of understanding by the government regarding health care needs; and the perception that the facilities were not sufficiently prepared for changes in health care delivery. The only area in which physicians working at the government-owned hospitals reported higher satisfaction than their colleagues at non-government-owned facilities was with regard to hospitalists. They rated hospitalists higher overall (2.4 points higher) and in particular with respect to hospitalists' communication about their patients (6.9 points higher).

In a comparison of teaching hospitals and nonteaching hospitals, physicians practicing at teaching hospitals were less satisfied, especially regarding the ease of practice and their relationship with hospital leadership.

Satisfaction also differed according to specialty. Physicians in the areas of psychiatry (mean score, 77.7), pediatrics (77.5) and emergency medicine (76.9) were most satisfied, whereas physicians in the areas of cardiovascular disease (70.4), anesthesiology (70) and orthopedics/general surgery (69.9) were the least satisfied. Physicians who had practiced five years or less and those who had practiced more than 20 years had the highest mean satisfaction scores (75.3 and 75.1, respectively). Physicians practicing in rural/small towns and suburban hospitals (mean score, 75.7 and 75.8, respectively) were more satisfied than were those in small or large cities (72.8 and 73.2, respectively).

Overall, as in the two previous surveys, the biggest issue for physicians was the gap in the physician-administration relationship. Their next priority was confidence in hospital administration to carry out its duties and responsibilities. The physicians gave overall hospital operations a score of 84, up from 75.5 in 2007.

The survey revealed an increase in physician dissatisfaction with EMRs. The mean satisfaction score regarding the ease of using EMRs was 67.2 in 2007, but the score dropped nearly three points to 64.4 in the most recent survey. According to the authors of the report, many physicians claim that EMRs are "difficult and time-consuming to use," which often means it takes longer to do routine tasks.