Physician satisfaction with clinical laboratory services: a College of American Pathologists Q-probes study of 138 institutions.

CONTEXT

Monitoring customer satisfaction is a valuable component of a laboratory quality improvement program.

OBJECTIVE

To survey the level of physician satisfaction with hospital clinical laboratory services.

DESIGN

Participating institutions provided demographic and practice information and survey results of physician satisfaction with defined aspects of clinical laboratory services, rated on a scale of 1 (poor) to 5 (excellent).

RESULTS

One hundred thirty-eight institutions participated in this study and submitted a total of 4329 physician surveys. The overall satisfaction score for all institutions ranged from 2.9 to 5.0. The median overall score for all participants was 4.1 (10th percentile, 3.6; 90th percentile, 4.5). Physicians were most satisfied with the quality/reliability of results and staff courtesy, with median values of excellent or good ratings of 89.9%. Of the 5 service categories that received the lowest percentage values of excellent/good ratings (combined scores of 4 and 5), 4 were related to turnaround time for inpatient stat, outpatient stat, routine, and esoteric tests. Surveys from half of the participating laboratories reported that 96% to 100% of physicians would recommend the laboratory to other physicians. The category most frequently selected as the most important category of laboratory services was quality/reliability of results (31.7%).

CONCLUSIONS

There continues to be a high level of physician satisfaction and loyalty with clinical laboratory services. Test turnaround times are persistent categories of dissatisfaction and present opportunities for improvement.