Physician perception of patient satisfaction. Do doctors know which patients are satisfied?

The purpose of this study was to discover whether advanced family practice residents could accurately predict their patients' level of satisfaction with medical care. Overall, there was no significant relationship between actual patient satisfaction and physician perception of patient satisfaction, although 2 of 10 physicians did predict patient satisfaction with some precision. Further results showed no significant relationships between individual physician prediction of "typical" patient responses to a patient satisfaction questionnaire and actual patient responses to the same instrument. High-technology medicine and the traditional, passive patient role may both interfere with physicians' ability to make accurate assessments of patient response to care.