Does the presentation of an after visit summary improve patient satisfaction: physician versus other team members

Affiliations

Department of Family Medicine

Presentation Notes

Presented at 2013 Aurora Scientific Day, Milwaukee, WI

Abstract

Background/significance: Since switching over to electronic medical record system, many encounters are followed by a summarized report. These have been shown to improve patient satisfaction. Our experience at the Family Care Center is that these After Visit Summaries (AVS) often go un-reviewed by the patient.

Purpose: A pilot study to investigate if the AVS is perceived by the patient to be more beneficial when presented and discussed by their physician versus being given to them by other team member (OTM).

Methods: Patients were divided alphabetically between both residents for randomization. Half were presented with the AVS by the physicians, half by OTM. During the next follow up visit, the patients completed a brief survey regarding their experience with their AVS at the last visit. Proportions were compared by Fisher exact test.

Results: 33 surveys were completed (19 physician-given, 14 OTM-given). Of the patients that reported a behavior change due to the AVS, 21% were presented the AVS by a physician versus 14% that were presented the AVS by an OTM (p=1.00). Of the patients presented with the AVS by physicians, 89% reported that they would like their AVS at future visits versus 93% of patients provided their AVS by OTM (p=1.00). Due to a 47% no show rate at the clinic, lost to follow-up limited our sample size.

Conclusion: The low rate of survey completion, due in part by very high no-show rate, limited statistical comparison in this study. A 7% improvement in effect of AVS, if substantial changes are made by patients, may be clinically significant, but would require a sample size of 1,000 to be statistically significant.

Document Type

Abstract

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