Clinician Gender and Satisfaction with Obstetrical Clinician

Patient satisfaction with clinician is associated with return for recommended care. Using data from 2 postpartum depression trials we examined the association between maternal demographic characteristics, clinical factors, access, and clinician gender with patient satisfaction with clinician. This study includes 507 mothers who had a regular clinician and completed the 3-weeks postpartum survey. Mean age was 32 (range 18-48); 45% were black or Latina, and 48% were white; 31% were foreign born and 22% had Medicaid. Overall, 67% of mothers rated their clinician as excellent. Mothers with male clinicians were more likely to rate their clinician as excellent versus mothers with female clinicians (73% vs. 64%, p=.03). Rating your clinician as excellent was less common among mothers whose primary clinicians were midwives versus those with physician clinicians, among nonwhite mothers, mothers insured by Medicaid, those born outside of the US, those with lower educational attainment, mothers who screened positive for depression, and mothers who reported more difficulty accessing care. There were no differences in ratings of clinicians by delivery type, presence of maternal complication or comorbid condition, or by intervention arm. After adjusting for demographics, clinical factors, type of clinician, access, and intervention arm, there was no difference in ratings of clinicians for mothers with male clinicians versus those with female clinicians (adjusted OR 1.15; 95% CI 0.47-2.81). Rating your clinician as excellent was less common among mothers with lower perceived access to care (adjusted OR 0.35; 0.22-0.55). Access to care is an important correlate of satisfaction with clinician.