Plastic Surgeon Yelp Reviews - What Impacts Their Ratings?

How would you rate the services of your plastic surgeon? Would you base the review only on the final results of your procedure such as a facelift or breast augmentation? Would you also consider the ease of making an appointment or interacting with the staff? There are a number of items that go into the writing of a Yelp review and the journal, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, recently conducted an analysis of Yelp reviews of plastic surgeons. The journal identified a wide range of factors related to both the surgeon and the medical practice that had an influence on whether or not plastic surgery patients made the decision to leave a review that was positive or negative in its content.

Plastic Surgeon Yelp Reviews – Factors That Impact Yelp Reviews

According to the senior author of the research and analysis published in the journal, Brent R. DeGeorge, MD, Ph.D., of University of Virginia, Charlottesville, “Our study also identifies some sources of bias that may affect patients’ perceptions of their care – although the plastic surgeon’s gender or race doesn’t appear to affect the overall quality ratings.

The research team analyzed a total of 5210 Yelp reviews of plastic surgery provider practices from forty-nine cities located across the United States. The reviews that were analyzed were coded for the presence of both negative and positive themes. This analysis allowed the researchers to identify both surgeon and practice-related factors that had an association with ratings that were positive or negative and this included the effects of the race and gender of the physician.

In total, 80% of the reviews that were included in the analysis were five-star reviews which generally indicates the highest possible level of satisfaction on the part of the patient. There was also a total of 13.5% one-star reviews which tends to reflect the lowest amount of satisfaction on the part of the patient. Finally, the number of reviews with two to four stars only accounted for around 6% of the total reviews.

When it came to positive reviews, the factors that were most often mentioned that were related to the surgeon included the outcome of the surgery, the temperament of the doctor, the level of communication between the patient and the physician, and the knowledge and competency of the doctor. According to Dr. DeGeorge and his research colleagues, “Patients with positive experiences emphasized having results that looked natural and matched the look they had discussed with the physician prior to surgery. Patients felt most comfortable with physicians who gave thorough explanations of the procedures beforehand, often spending several hours over multiple consultation sessions.”

Plastic Surgeon Yelp Reviews – What the Doctors Can Learn from Them

The positive factors associated with physicians with higher Yelp ratings included surgical outcomes, injectable outcomes, temperament, physical exam/procedures, and competency and knowledge. Any negative mentions associated with these same factors were found to be linked to lower Yelp ratings (along with knowing how much the different products and services cost).

When looking at the analysis or factors related to the practice, the types of interactions with the office staff, along with any issues related to being able to schedule an appointment, had a significant impact of the writing and leaving of positive or negative reviews. Some of the additional factors related to the practice that were viewed as negative included wait times and issues with billing or insurance. According to the authors of the analysis, the study “corroborates the results of past studies, which have found that practice factors such as wait time and courtesy of registration staff were correlated with a patient’s likelihood to highly rate a practice.”

It was also noted that Yelp ratings for a plastic surgeon were not significantly associated with the race or gender of the physician. This is certainly an encouraging result, but the research team did say, “Further research is needed to identify the effect of patient characteristics on their ratings and reviews of providers.”

Dr. DeGeorge and his team did note the presence of some limitations of the study including the inherent subjectivity of online ratings. However, the research staff does feel their analysis does provide new insights into the range of factors related to the doctor and the medical practice that can have an influence on the perceptions of the patient when it comes to their total quality of care.

The results from this study are not intended to be the final word on the factors that can impact the leaving of a positive or negative Yelp review from a patient to a medical practice. However, Dr. DeGeorge and his colleagues did come to a conclusion about what plastic surgeons can learn from Yelp ratings and reviews. “Plastic surgeons can learn from patient ratings and reviews to develop initiatives to improve the patient experience and learn more about general biases held by patients as the field becomes more diverse.”

- MA