CC23
Patient Satisfaction with Physicians and Nurse Practitioners in Multiple Slerosis Centers
With the predicted severe shortage of neurologists, care of patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), a chronic complex disease affecting over 400,000 people in the US will be compromised. Nurse Practitioners have successfully filled the provider gaps in a variety of care settings without any negative impact on care outcomes. Patient satisfaction, often synonymous with quality of care, was rated similar or improved with NPs or a team (physician-NP) approach in long term management of persons with chronic illnesses. However patient satisfaction with NPs and physicians working with Multiple Sclerosis patients have not been studied.
Objectives: The purpose of this study is to determine patient satisfaction with physicians and nurse practitioners in Multiple Sclerosis Centers.
Methods: This is a cross-ectional pilot study where a convenience sample (n=60) was recruited from two Multiple Sclerosis Centers in the Long Island region of New York. After obtaining an informed consent, the demographic data was collected pre-visit and the satisfaction surveys were completed post-visit. Sample characteristics were described using descriptive statistics. The two groups of patients; patients who saw a physician and the patients who saw a nurse practitioner were compared for different attributes of satisfaction using non-parametric tests. A Chi square analysis was used to further analyze the differences. The visit time and the allotted time and its relationship to satisfaction scores was also analyzed.
Results:
Patient satisfaction with both types of providers were high (VSQ9 mode-81). All attributes of satisfaction were equal for nurse practitioners and the physicians despite the differences in their educational preparation. Providers spent comparable amount of time with their patients (MD mean=26minutes, NP mean= 27minutes), yet which often exceeded the time allotted for the physicians in the clinic. Encounter duration (more or less than 20 minutes) was a strong determinant of patient satisfaction (p=0.01). Patients who carried the diagnosis for 10 or more years (p=0.01) or had the progressive type (p=0.03) were more satisfied with care.
Conclusions: Patients in MS centers are equally satisfied with the care they receive from nurse practitioners and physicians. A collaborative team approach between NPs and MDs can improve access to care and patient outcomes.