Abstract
Purpose :
Little is known about the level of patient satisfaction from those who receive care from first year ophthalmology residents, particularly in the Emergency Department (ED) setting. We hypothesize that despite acuity of problems and the time constraints placed by the nature of care in the ED, first year ophthalmology residents provide satisfactory patient care with high level of empathy, professionalism, and clinical competency.
Methods :
Thirty-one consecutive patients presenting for follow-up at our acute eye care clinic after initial ED encounter were requested to fill out an anonymous survey on a voluntary basis. The inclusion criteria was age greater than 18, competency in English language, initial evaluation by a first year ophthalmology resident in ED and subsequent discharge (i.e. no admission to the hospital), and absence of altered mental status at the time of ED encounter. Providers were blinded to patients’ participation and responses.
Results :
Of the 31 survey responders, 20 were male (mean age 43 years, range 18-75 years). Over 50% presented to the ED with an acute injury to the eye. Ninety percent of the patients rated the importance of hand hygiene as “very” or “extremely important”, and 84% remembered the resident practicing hand hygiene, and 16% did not remember whether hand hygiene was practiced. All survey participants reported that the provider spoke clearly, which was rated “very” or “extremely important” by 93% of the participants. Level of clinical knowledge was cited by 21 out of 31 responders as the most important criteria when evaluating their provider. The overall satisfaction score (possible score range between 0-10) was 9.4 ±1.02. High education level was the greatest predictor for lower level of satisfaction with the encounter (LR 5.75) compared to those with fewer than 4 years of college education.
Conclusions :
Our survey suggests that despite the obstacles in providing optimal patient care due to the time constraints in the ED and the relatively limited clinical experience of the first year ophthalmology residents, high level of patient satisfaction can be achieved by adhering to principles of patient-centered care such as clear communication and hand hygiene. As level of knowledge was perceived as the most important factor by patients in this survey, beginning residents should not ignore the value of enhancing their knowledge depth and breadth.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2016 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Seattle, Wash., May 1-5, 2016.