Is the professional satisfaction of general internists associated with patient satisfaction?

BACKGROUND: The growth of managed care has raised a number of concerns abou t patient and physician satisfaction. An association between physicians' pr ofessional satisfaction and the satisfaction of their patients could sugges t new types of organizational interventions to improve the satisfaction of both. OBJECTIVE: To examine the relation between the satisfaction of general inte rnists and their patients. DESIGN: Cross-sectional surveys of patients and physicians. SETTING: Eleven academically affiliated general internal medicine practices in the greater-Boston area. PARTICIPANTS: A random sample of English-speaking and Spanish-speaking pati ents (n = 2,620) with at least one visit to their physician (n = 166) durin g the preceding year. MEASUREMENTS: Patients' overall satisfaction with their health care, and th eir satisfaction with their most recent physician visit. MAIN RESULTS: After adjustment, the patients of physicians who rated themse lves to be very or extremely satisfied with their work had higher scores fo r overall satisfaction with their health care (regression coefficient 2.10; 95% confidence interval 0.73-3.48), and for satisfaction with their most r ecent physician visit (regression coefficient 1.23; 95% confidence interval 0.26-2.21), In addition, younger patients, those with better overall healt h status, and those cared for by a physician who worked part-time were sign ificantly more likely to report better satisfaction with both measures. Min ority patients and those with managed care insurance also reported lower ov erall satisfaction. CONCLUSIONS: The patients of physicians who have higher professional satisf action may themselves be more satisfied with their care. Further research w ill need to consider factors that may mediate the relation between patient and physician satisfaction.