Patients more satisfied with care from hospitalists

(HealthDay)—More patients report satisfaction with overall care in a nonteaching hospitalist service than in a general medicine teaching service, according to research published in the February issue of the Journal of Hospital Medicine.

Charlie M. Wray, D.O., of the University of Chicago Medical Center, and colleagues conducted a retrospective cohort analysis of data from a survey of 4,591 general medicine teaching patients and 1,811 nonteaching hospitalist service patients at 30 days after discharge. The association between service type and patient-reported outcomes was examined.

The researchers found that, compared with patients on the general medicine teaching service, patients on the nonteaching hospitalist service had higher reported rates of ability to identify their physician (50 versus 45 percent; P < 0.001), understanding of the role of their physician (54 versus 50 percent; P < 0.001), and satisfaction with coordination of care (68 versus 64 percent; P = 0.006) and overall care (73 versus 67 percent; P < 0.001). Hospitalist service was associated with higher rate of satisfaction with overall care (odds ratio, 1.33; 95 percent confidence interval, 1.15 to 1.47). This pattern held even when hospitalists were the attendings on general medicine teaching services (odds ratio, 1.17; 95 percent confidence interval, 1.01 to 1.31).

"Patients on a nonteaching hospitalist service rated their overall care slightly better than patients on a general medicine teaching service," the authors write. "Team structure and complexity may play a role in this difference."

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