PMC10281408_01
How survey participants found their hand surgeon's offices.
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Next, we asked the survey respondents how they found their hand surgeon's office (Table 2, Figure 1).
How survey participants found their hand surgeon's offices based on gender.
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When analyzing how participants found their hand surgeon's office based on gender there were no significant differences (Table 3, Figure 2). 55.5% of females and 48.4% of males were referred to their hand surgeon by a medical professional. 31.8% of females and 39.1% of males were referred to their hand surgeon by a family or friend. 9% of females and 9% of males used social media or an internet search to find their hand surgery specialist, while 2.3% of females and 3.1% of males used their insurance companies.
How survey participants found their hand surgeon's offices based on age.
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In terms of different age categories, there were no significant differences in how participants found their hand surgeon's office (Table 4, Figure 3).
Factors ranked by survey participants from most to least important when choosing a hand surgeon.
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Overall, the factors that were ranked higher more frequently were surgeon credentials and schooling, available appointment times, office location, online ratings and reviews, surgeon years of experience and accepted insurance plans (Figure 4). While the factors that were ranked lower more frequently were social media, surgeon gender and surgeon nationality (Figure 4).
Top three reasons participants ranked when choosing their hand surgeon.
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Figure 5 shows the top three most important factors that respondents ranked when choosing their hand surgery specialist. 50.8% of participants ranked surgeon credentials or schooling as the most important reason for choosing their hand surgeon, 47% ranked accepted insurance plans as the most important factor (Table 5).