Association of Receipt of Antibiotics with Patient Satisfaction for Caregivers of Children Presenting to Urgent-Care Settings

Background: The Press Ganey (PG) Medical Practice Survey is a commonly used questionnaire for measuring patient experience in healthcare. Our objective was to evaluate the PG surveys completed by caregivers of children presenting for urgent care evaluation of acute respiratory infections (ARIs) to determine any correlation with receipt of antibiotics during their visit. Methods: We evaluated responses to the PG urgent-care surveys for encounters of children 25th percentile). Univariate and multivariable generalized mixed-effects logistic regression was used to assess correlates of patient dissatisfaction. Random intercepts were included for each provider to account for correlation within the same provider. Separate models were used for each PG component score. Multivariable models adjusted for receipt of antibiotics, age, gender, race, ethnicity, and provider type. Results: Overall, 388 of 520 responses (74.6%) indicated satisfaction and 132 responses (25.4%) indicated dissatisfaction. Among patients who did not receive antibiotics, 87 of 284 responses (30.6%) indicated dissatisfaction versus 45 of 236 (19.1%) who did receive antibiotics. Among patients who were dissatisfied with their clinician, raw clinician PG scores were higher among patients who received antibiotics (mean, 64.5; standard deviation [SD], 16.9) versus those who did not receive antibiotics (mean, 54.7; SD, 24.4; P = .015) (Table 1). In a multivariable analysis, receipt of antibiotics was associated with a reduction in patient dissatisfaction overall (odds ratio, 0.55; 95% CI, 0.36–0.85). Conclusions: Overall, most responses for patients seen for ARIs in pediatric urgent care were satisfied. However, a significantly higher proportion of responses for patients who did not receive antibiotics were dissatisfied than for those patients who received antibiotics. Antibiotic stewardship strategies to communicate appropriate prescribing while preserving patient satisfaction are needed in pediatric urgent-care settings. Funding: None Disclosures: None