How a woman selects her gynecologic surgeon and obstetrician and which factors are important to her

The purpose of this study was to elicit information on the process used by patients to select an obstetrician or gynecologist and to identify the physician attributes that are important to them. A cross-sectional study was performed at a university-based medical center. A survey was designed for obstetric and gynecologic surgery patients and distributed to women undergoing delivery or gynecologic surgery. Over a 2-month period, 532 surveys were distributed to consecutive patients coming to the hospital for delivery and gynecologic surgery. Of those, 153 were completed, for a 29% response rate. The majority of patients were well-educated Caucasian women receiving care at a private university medical center. Gynecologic surgery patients consulted more physicians before selecting a provider and placed a higher priority on physician reputation. The obstetric patients placed more emphasis on physician communication skills and office associates. Several physician attributes were important to both groups, including responsiveness, professionalism, and confidence. Least important to the combined groups were gender, age, office location, and insurance.