3:09 PM Abstract No. 73 Evaluating the impact of communal traits and gender-based perceptions on Press-Ganey scores

Abstract

Communal traits, like empathy, warmth and consensus-building, are not highly valued in the medical hierarchy. Yet data suggests that patients prefer these very traits, that female physicians are more likely to display. We analyze if patient ascribed communal traits have a gendered prevalence and its impact on physician Press-Ganey scores. 22,431 Press Ganey outpatient surveys assessing 480 physicians collected at a large tertiary hospital from 2016-2017 were analyzed. Patients provided qualitative comments and quantitative ratings assessing physician effectiveness. Patient comments were coded for whether they described the physician with communal language using a word scale derived from previous work (Madera and Hebl, 2009). Multivariate logistic regressions were used to assess a) whether female physicians were more likely to be described using communal language and b) whether communal language correlated with higher quantitative ratings, when controlling for physician characteristics (age, rank, medical specialty, and ethnicity); patient characteristics (gender, age, and race); and comment characteristics (length and which qualitative survey questions were being answered). Even after controlling for physician and patient characteristics, patients were more likely to describe female physicians with communal language (OR = 1.15, P < 0.002). Physicians described with communal language were also more likely to receive a 5/5 score across all quantitative dimensions (P < 0.001), including “shared-decision making” (OR = 2.52), “concern for your questions” (OR = 2.39) and “likelihood to recommend” (OR = 2.77). There were no significant differences between surgical and non-surgical specialties. Patients are more likely to perceive female physicians as communal and give higher quantitative ratings to physicians they perceive as communal. These results imply a need to reevaluate what types of behavior academic hospitals reward in their physicians: devaluing communal behavior may both penalize female physicians, widening gender disparities, and undervalue the very behavior patients appreciate.