%0 Journal Article
%@ 1438-8871
%I JMIR Publications
%V 21
%N 4
%P e11646
%T “But His Yelp Reviews Are Awful!”: Analysis of General Surgeons’ Yelp Reviews
%A Liu,Cynthia
%A Uffenheimer,Meka
%A Nasseri,Yosef
%A Cohen,Jason
%A Ellenhorn,Joshua
%+ The Surgery Group of Los Angeles, Research Foundation, Suite 880W, 8635 W 3rd Street, Los Angeles, CA, 90048, United States, 1 310 289 1518, yosefnasseri@gmail.com
%K patient satisfaction
%K general surgery
%K Los Angeles
%K Web-based ratings
%K digital health
%K Yelp
%D 2019
%7 30.04.2019
%9 Original Paper
%J J Med Internet Res
%G English
%X Background: Patients use Web-based platforms to review general surgeons. However, little is known about the free-form text and structured content of the reviews or how they relate to the physicians’ characteristics or their practices. Objective: This observational study aimed to analyze the Web-based reviews of general surgeons on the west side of Los Angeles. Methods: Demographics, practice characteristics, and Web-based presence were recorded. We evaluated frequency and types of Yelp reviews and assigned negative remarks to 5 categories. Tabulated results were evaluated using independent t test, one-way analysis of variance, and Pearson correlation analysis to determine associations between the number of total and negative reviews with respect to practice structure and physician characteristics. Results: Of the 146 general surgeons, 51 (35%) had at least 1 review and 29 (20%) had at least 1 negative review. There were 806 total reviews, 679 (84.2%) positive reviews and 127 (15.8%) negative reviews. The negative reviews contained a total of 376 negative remarks, categorized into physician demeanor (124/376, 32.9%), clinical outcomes (81/376, 22%), office or staff (83/376, 22%), scheduling (44/376, 12%), and billing (44/376, 12%). Surgeons with a professional website had significantly more reviews than those without (P=.003). Surgeons in private practice had significantly more reviews (P=.002) and more negative reviews (P=.03) than surgeons who were institution employed. A strong and direct correlation was found between a surgeon’s number of reviews and number of negative reviews (P<.001). Conclusions: As the most common category of complaints was about physician demeanor, surgeons may optimize their Web-based reputation by improving their bedside manner. A surgeon’s Web presence, private practice, and the total number of reviews are significantly associated with both positive and negative reviews. 
%M 31038463
%R 10.2196/11646
%U http://www.jmir.org/2019/4/e11646/
%U https://doi.org/10.2196/11646
%U http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31038463