TY  - JOUR
AU  - Liu, Cynthia
AU  - Uffenheimer, Meka
AU  - Nasseri, Yosef
AU  - Cohen, Jason
AU  - Ellenhorn, Joshua
PY  - 2019
DA  - 2019/04/30
TI  - “But His Yelp Reviews Are Awful!”: Analysis of General Surgeons’ Yelp Reviews
JO  - J Med Internet Res
SP  - e11646
VL  - 21
IS  - 4
KW  - patient satisfaction
KW  - general surgery
KW  - Los Angeles
KW  - Web-based ratings
KW  - digital health
KW  - Yelp
AB  - 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. 
SN  - 1438-8871
UR  - http://www.jmir.org/2019/4/e11646/
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2196/11646
UR  - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31038463
DO  - 10.2196/11646
ID  - info:doi/10.2196/11646
ER  -