An outcome-based study of aesthetic surgery in a clinic setting

Previous studies have addressed the difficulties in training residents in a esthetic surgery. The purpose of this study is to analyze patient satisfact ion with cosmetic surgery at an inner city teaching hospital as well as to evaluate referral patterns. The patients included in this study underwent a esthetic surgical procedures through the Kings County Hospital Plastic Surg ery Clinic (KCHC) from January 1, 1997, to June 30, 1998. Patients were inf ormed that the procedure would be performed by a plastic surgery resident w ith attending supervision. Data were obtained in a retrospective fashion us ing telephone surveys. Fifty-five patients participated in the study, which accounted for 68 aesthetic procedures. Sixty percent of patients considere d the results of surgery as excellent or good. On a patient satisfaction sc ale from 0 (unhappy) to 10 (exceedingly happy), patients' self-reporting av erage was 6.59, This mean value may not be completely indicative of patient satisfaction, Eighty-nine percent of patients would refer a friend and 78% of patients would have the same procedure performed again. Sixty-nine perc ent of the patients had been referred by past KCHC patients. All of these n umbers tend to convey a higher degree of patient satisfaction. The results of the study appear to convey the importance of developing residents' abili ty to accurately explain to patients the anticipated results of aesthetic s urgery.