Friendliness of OR staff is top determinant of patient satisfaction with outpatient surgery.

Two hundred patients (151 women) undergoing outpatient surgery at a university hospital were asked to complete a questionnaire at the time of discharge. Listing 12 factors related to preoperative intraoperative, and postoperative care, the questionnaire asked each respondent to rank the five most important factors from 1 to 5. The most important factor, ranked among the top five by 67% of the patients, was friendliness of the operating room staff. The other four (and, parenthetically, the percentage of patients ranking the factor among the top five) were as follows: surgeons's postoperative visit (63%); management of postoperative pain (62%); starting i.v. smoothly (53%); and avoidance of delays (45%).