Can healthcare providers at a university health clinic predict patient satisfaction?

Patient satisfaction in university health settings has received little rese arch attention, and it is unclear whether the issue is being addressed in c ollege health clinics. Because providers may make their own evaluations of patient satisfaction in the absence of other information, the authors condu cted a study to determine whether healthcare providers at a university heal th clinic could accurately assess patient satisfaction. Ten providers compl eted a 10-item questionnaire immediately following the medical encounter to rate their perceptions of selected patients' levels of satisfaction. After seeing a healthcare provider, 201 patients completed a comparable question naire indicating how satisfied they were with the experience. Responses of providers and patients were compared, using a paired-sample t test. The res ults showed that providers' ratings were significantly lower than patients' ratings, indicating that providers were unable to judge patient satisfacti on accurately. The results suggest that formal evaluations of patient satis faction should be included in college health services.