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

Abstract

Purpose: To examine and characterize extremely negative Yelp reviews of orthopedic sports surgeons in the United States. Methods: A 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. Results: A 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. Conclusion: Our 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 Relevance: Patients 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.

Characterizing Single-star Negative Online Reviews of Orthopaedic Trauma Association Members

“…Although most reviews did not reference clinical aspects of care, there was a much higher percentage of clinical complaints when compared with similar studies in other orthopaedic subspecialties. 18,20 Figure 2…”

“…23 Although a surgeon's technical skills may be excellent, their online ratings might not reflect this because nonclinical factors, such as wait time, physician bedside manner, and parking, are more associated with negative reviews. 18,[24][25][26] A study by Pollock et al 20 examined negative reviews in sports medicine and found nonclinical complaints were over three times more common than clinical complaints. Our study found similar results.…”

“…17 In addition, studies analyzing extremely negative reviews have been limited to orthopaedic subspecialties such as arthroplasty 18,19 and sports medicine. 20 The purpose of this study was to characterize factors that contribute to extremely negative reviews regarding orthopaedic trauma surgeons.…”

Medical Scribes in an Orthopedic Sports Medicine Clinic Improve Productivity and Physician Well-Being

“…This is especially important in the digital era, where patient satisfaction and dissatisfaction are publicly available on websites such as Healthgrades, Vitals, and Yelp. 21 …”

Analysis of Negative Reviews of Orthopedic Oncology Surgeons: An Investigation of Reviews from Healthgrades, Vitals, and Google

“…In Bernstein's review, most of the studies included that evaluated PRWs of various orthopedic specialties analyzed presence of positive reviews and average physician scores [ 11 ]. In addition, there have been no studies investigating reviews or ratings of orthopedic oncologists [ 11 , 12 ]. The aim of this study is to characterize one-star reviews of orthopedic oncology surgeons to further understand factors that affect the patient experience in this unique patient group.…”