Emergency Physician Perspectives on the Use of Patient Experience Surveys

Abstract

Introduction: Although emergency medicine specialty societies have published policy statements on the use of patient experience data, we know little about how these data are currently used within physician groups. We also have little information about individual emergency physicians’ perspectives on the use of these data. Methods: A total of 1049 questionnaires were distributed via email to residency program alumni of a large Midwestern residency program in June-July 2024. Participants were asked questions regarding their time in practice since residency, practice setting, and their current group or employer’s use of emergency department (ED) patient experience feedback. Descriptive statistics were calculated for all variables, and a logistic regression was performed to determine associations between respondent sex and years in practice with the odds of perceiving the use of experience ratings as fair. Finally, open-ended responses were reviewed thematically to identify common patterns. Results: From a distribution to 1049 individuals, there were 99 (9.4%) responses. A total of 33 (33.3%) respondents made free-response comments. The most common uses of data were the publication of group performance and individual emails to physicians regarding patient feedback. Financial incentives were more common at the group level than at the individual level. Female physicians had lower odds of perceiving use of the ratings as fair. In addition, physicians raised concerns in free response comments about gender and racial bias, sample size and distribution of surveys, and the relevance of factors outside of physician control. Conclusion: Emergency physicians held relatively neutral positions on whether the current use of experience data was reasonable. However, they had numerous concerns regarding the data quality.