How do patients select their sports medicine orthopedist? Cross sectional study

To explore factors that influence patient selection of a sports medicine orthopedist. A self-completion questionnaires were filled out by the patients independently at the entrance to the orthopedic clinic where they waited for their turn. Cross sectional survey. Three hundred-and-eight patients that consulted a sports medicine orthopedist in the past year, whether in a private or a public sector, completed a questionnaire designed for the purposes of the present study. Patient selection of a sports medicine orthopedist was primarily influenced by an orthopedist's professional skills and recommendations from friends, family members, and other patients, while patients seemed to be less concerned about an orthopedist's interpersonal skills, and less influenced by other physicians' recommendations or advertisements. Variance has been observed in attribution of importance to certain factors across patient groups. These findings may be used in designing of marketing strategies aimed to assist patient selection of a sports medicine orthopedist. Marketing strategies need to be tailored to specific patient groups for example athletes. •Patient selection of a sports medicine orthopedist was influenced by an orthopedist's professional skills, friends and family members.•Patients whose reason for the consultation was pain following a sports injury, tended to attribute more importance to the orthopedist's interpersonal skills.•Marketing strategies need to be tailored to specific patient groups for example athletes.