The Majority of Complaints About Orthopedic Sports Surgeons on Yelp Are Nonclinical

Abstract

PurposeTo examine and characterize extremely negative Yelp reviews of orthopedic sports surgeons in the United States.MethodsA search for reviews was performed using the keywords “Orthopedic Sports Medicine” on Yelp.com for 8 major metropolitan areas. Single-star reviews were isolated for analysis, and individual complaints were then categorized as clinical or nonclinical. The reviews were classified as surgical or nonsurgical.ResultsA total of 11,033 reviews were surveyed. Of these, 1,045 (9.5%) were identified as 1-star, and 289 were ultimately included in the study. These reviews encompassed 566 total complaints, 133 (23%) of which were clinical, and 433 (77%) of which were nonclinical in nature. The most common clinical complaints concerned complications (32 complaints; 6%), misdiagnosis (29 complaints; 5%), and uncontrolled pain (21 complaints; 4%). The most common nonclinical complaints concerned physicians’ bedside manner (120 complaints; 21%), unprofessional staff (98 complaints; 17%), and finances (78 complaints; 14%). Patients who had undergone surgery wrote 47 reviews that resulted in 114 complaints (20.5% of total complaints), whereas nonsurgical patients were responsible for 242 reviews and a total of 452 complaints (81.3% of total complaints). The difference in the number of complaints by patients after surgery and patients without surgery was statistically significant (P < 0.05) for all categories except for uncontrolled pain, delay in care, bedside manner of midlevel staff, and facilities.ConclusionOur study of extremely negative Yelp reviews found that 77% of negative complaints were nonclinical in nature. The most common clinical complaints were complications, misdiagnoses and uncontrolled pain. Only 16% of 1-star reviews were from surgical patients.Clinical RelevancePatients use online review platforms when choosing surgeons. A comprehensive understanding of factors affecting patient satisfaction and dissatisfaction is needed. The results of our study could be used to guide future quality-improvement measures and to assist surgeons in maintaining favorable online reputations.