Figure 3.

Important Traits in an Orthopaedic Surgeon. This chart illustrates the percentage of patients that rated the listed traits as “important” (“most important,” “second most important,” “very important,” “important,” or “somewhat important”). The majority of respondents rated modifiable traits such as hospital affiliation, board certification, reputation, and published research as “important.” While non-modifiable traits like gender, racial background, and age were rated “important” less often, they were still rated “important” by about one-third of respondents.