The effect of surgeon empathy and emotional intelligence on patient satisfaction

• Published in: Advances in health sciences education : theory and practice Vol. 16; no. 5; pp. 591 - 600
• Main Authors: Weng, Hui-Ching, Steed, James F., Yu, Shang-Won, Liu, Yi-Ten, Hsu, Chia-Chang, Yu, Tsan-Jung, Chen, Wency
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01.12.2011; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Adult; Age Factors; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Attitude of Health Personnel; Client Characteristics; Education; Emotional Intelligence; Empathy; Female; Follow-Up Studies; General Surgery; Health Conditions; Health Status; Humans; Interviews as Topic; Male; Medical Care Evaluation; Medical Education; Middle Aged; Patient Satisfaction; Patients; Physician Patient Relationship; Physician-Patient Relations; Physicians; Physicians - psychology; Pretests Posttests; Satisfaction; Schematic Studies; Socioeconomic Factors; Surgeons; Surgery; Surveys and Questionnaires; Treatment Outcome; Young Adult; Physician; Empathy; Health status; Patient satisfaction; Emotional intelligence
• ISSN: 1382-4996; 1573-1677; 1573-1677
• DOI: 10.1007/s10459-011-9278-3

We investigated the associations of surgeons’ emotional intelligence and surgeons’ empathy with patient-surgeon relationships, patient perceptions of their health, and patient satisfaction before and after surgical procedures. We used multi-source approaches to survey 50 surgeons and their 549 outpatients during initial and follow-up visits. Surgeons’ emotional intelligence had a positive effect (r = .45; p  < .001) on patient-rated patient-surgeon relationships. Patient-surgeon relationships had a positive impact on patient satisfaction before surgery (r = .95; p  < .001). Surgeon empathy did not have an effect on patient-surgeon relationships or patient satisfaction prior to surgery. But after surgery, surgeon empathy appeared to have a significantly positive and indirect effect on patient satisfaction through the mediating effect of patients’ self-reported health status (r = .21; p  < .001). Our study showed that long-term patient satisfaction with their surgeons is affected less by emotional intelligence than by empathy. Furthermore, empathy indirectly affects patient satisfaction through its positive effect on health outcomes, which have a direct effect on patients’ satisfaction with their surgeons.