Parental Satisfaction and the Ability to Recall the Physician’s Name

Abstract

During urgent care visits, families may not see their regular physician and may not even recall the name of their provider. The authors conducted a cross-sectional parental satisfaction survey at pediatric ambulatory clinics to assess whether parent recall of their treating physician’s name is associated with parental satisfaction. For urgent care, ability to recall the physician’s name was positively associated with parental satisfaction (odds ratio [OR] = 2.14; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.76-2.60). Factors associated with dissatisfaction were parking difficulty (OR = 0.38; 95% CI = 0.26-0.57) and increasing visit time (OR = 0.87; 95% CI = 0.81-0.94). In urgent care clinics, not being able to recall the treating physician’s name is associated with dissatisfaction. Although there are many factors associated with satisfaction that are not in the physician’s control, there may be simple actions associated with improved satisfaction that physicians can implement, such as clearly introducing themselves and making sure parents remember their name.