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Back Pain | Cost Effectiveness | Patient Satisfaction | Utilization
| Government Recommendations | Safety
Patient
Satisfaction In today’s consumer driven
health care environment, patient satisfaction is
an important health outcome measure.
There have been
several surveys conducted in recent years
assessing patient satisfaction with chiropractic
care, which was found to be extremely high. In
addition, these surveys invariably found that the
level of satisfaction was significantly higher
for care received from chiropractors in
comparison to the medical profession.
Surveys have
also indicated that chiropractic patients are
willing to return for chiropractic treatment for
a similar condition and would recommend
chiropractic treatment to friends, family and
colleagues.
Cherkin, D.C.,
MacCornack, F.A. (1989) "Patient Evaluation
of Low Back Pain Care from Family Physicians and
Chiropractors", Western Journal of Medicine,
Vol.150(3), pp. 351-355.
This study
compared the satisfaction levels of chiropractic
vs. medical low-back-pain patients in a large HMO
in the United States. Patients of chiropractors
evaluated their provider highly in critical area
of patient care while medical doctors received
lower ratings. Some results: very satisfied with
care (MD patients 22% vs. 66% DC patients);
doctor seemed confident about back pain diagnosis
(MD patients 23% vs. 61% DC patients); felt
doctor was concerned about them (MD patients 20%
vs. 58% DC patients.)
Carey, T.S.,
Garrett, J., Jackman, A., Mclaughlin, C., Fryer,
J., Smucker, D.R. (1995) "The Outcomes and
Costs of Care for Acute Low Back Pain Among
Patients Seen By Primary Care Practitioners,
Chiropractors, and Orthopedic Surgeons", New
England Journal of Medicine, Vol. 333, pp. 913-917.
This study found
that low back pain patients whose primary
provider was a chiropractor were significantly
more satisfied with their care than patients
whose primary care provider was a medical doctor,
orthopedic surgeon or HMO provider. Patients of
chiropractors (in comparison to the others listed
above) more frequently responded that the
information they received was excellent (47.1% vs.
30.3%), that a careful examination of their back
was undertaken (96.1% vs. 79.9%), that the cause
of their problem was clearly explained (93.6% vs.
74.6%), and that their satisfaction with the
treatment of their back problem was excellent (52.1%
vs. 31.5%).
Shekelle,
P.G., Markovich, M., Louie, R. (1995) "Factors
Associated with Choosing a Chiropractor for
Episodes of Back Pain Care", Medical Care,
Vol. 33, pp. 842-850.
This study,
which analyzed health insurance data on the use
of health services in the United States, found
that chiropractors were the choice of one third
of all patients who sought back care and who saw
only one provider. From previous studies, it was
found that approximately two thirds of all
outpatient visits for back pain are made to
chiropractors. Results of this study indicate
that chiropractors were the primary provider for
40 percent of all episodes of back pain and were
retained as primary provider by 92 percent of
patients who had a second episode of back pain (vs.
75% for general practitioners).
