Measuring patient experiences on hospitalist and teaching services: Patient responses to a 30-day postdischarge questionnaire

BACKGROUND: Data comparing patient experiences between general medicine teaching and nonteaching hospitalist services are lacking. OBJECTIVE: Evaluate hospitalized patients' experience on general medicine teaching and nonteaching hospitalist services by assessing patients' confidence in their ability to identify their physician(s), understand their roles, and their rating of the coordination and overall care. METHODS: Retrospective cohort analysis of general medicine teaching and nonteaching hospitalist services from 2007 to 2013 at an academic medical center. Patients were surveyed 30-days after hospital discharge regarding their confidence in their ability to identify their physician(s), understand the role of their physician(s), and their perceptions of coordination and overall care. A 3-level, mixed effects logistic regression was performed to ascertain the association between service type and patient-reported outcomes. RESULTS: Data from 4591 general medicine teaching and 1811 nonteaching hospitalist service patients demonstrated that those cared for by the hospitalist service were more likely to report being able to identify their physician (50% vs 45%, P < 0.001), understand their role (54% vs 50%, P < 0.001), and rate greater satisfaction with coordination (68 vs 64%, P = 0.006) and overall care (73% vs 67%, P < 0.001). In regression models, the hospitalist service was associated with higher ratings in overall care (odds ratio [OR]: 1.33; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.15-1.47), even when hospitalists were the attendings on general medicine teaching services (OR: 1.17; 95% CI: 1.01-1.31). CONCLUSION: Patients on a nonteaching hospitalist service rated their overall care slightly better than patients on a general medicine teaching service. Team structure and complexity may play a role in this difference.