Description:
<jats:p><jats:italic>Background.</jats:italic> The popular media infer that satisfaction with waiting lists for total hip or knee replacement surgery is poor; however, there is little supporting evidence for this. The purpose of this study was to describe patients satisfaction with the service they received for joint replacement surgery in a public hospital. <jats:italic>Methods.</jats:italic> A cross-sectional design was used to survey 450 patients. Data was analysed descriptively and chi-squared analyses (significance level of <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M1"><mml:mrow><mml:mi>P</mml:mi><mml:mo><</mml:mo><mml:mn>0.05</mml:mn></mml:mrow></mml:math>) were used to examine associations between variables. <jats:italic>Results.</jats:italic> The response rate was 71%. Nearly three-quarters (<mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M2"><mml:mrow><mml:mi>n</mml:mi><mml:mo>=</mml:mo><mml:mn>312</mml:mn></mml:mrow></mml:math>) of the sample were “very happy” with the service and 92.0% (<mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M3"><mml:mrow><mml:mi>n</mml:mi><mml:mo>=</mml:mo><mml:mn>379</mml:mn></mml:mrow></mml:math>) indicated that they would have their surgery again. Satisfaction was significantly associated with waiting time to the first appointment (chi-square; <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M4"><mml:mrow><mml:mi>P</mml:mi><mml:mo>=</mml:mo><mml:mn>0.002</mml:mn></mml:mrow></mml:math>), whether the patients enquired about their waiting time (chisquare; <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M5"><mml:mrow><mml:mi>P</mml:mi><mml:mo>=</mml:mo><mml:mn>0.003</mml:mn></mml:mrow></mml:math>), and the number of preoperative appointments (chisquare; <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M6"><mml:mrow><mml:mi>P</mml:mi><mml:mo>=</mml:mo><mml:mn>0.04</mml:mn></mml:mrow></mml:math>). Most participants reported a maximum acceptable waiting period for initial appointment of less than 6 months but nearly half waited longer. <jats:italic>Conclusions.</jats:italic> The perception that patients are unhappy with elective surgery services in Australia may be unfounded despite many waiting longer than they consider appropriate.</jats:p>