Patient Satisfaction With Emergency Department Efficiency Clinical Trial
Official title:
Effects of Provider-at-Triage on Emergency Department Efficiency, Information Delivery and Patient Satisfaction
The United States spends over $8,000 per capita annually on health care and its health care
system is more expensive than other developed countries. Even with high per capita costs and
a high proportion of physician specialists, the US lags in health care performance from
patients' perspectives.
The hospital emergency department (ED) is often the portal of entry for patients seeking
health care services and is therefore an ideal setting for initiatives to improve efficiency
of care delivery and patient satisfaction. Reduction in wait times, enhanced information
delivery and ED staff service quality all have a positive influence on patient perception of
health care quality and satisfaction.
Prior studies have attempted to increase patient satisfaction by improving staff
communication and courtesy, implementing a patient satisfaction team in triage, and
delivering information to patients in a timely manner. Another strategy to increase the
efficiency of ED operations is adding a physician to triage to perform brief medical
screenings and initiate necessary patient testing and treatment. This contrasts to usual
practice in which physicians evaluate patients only following registration and nurse
assessment of illness or injury severity.
This study will assess the impact of early patient assessment by a physician at Emergency
Department (ED) triage on patient perception of information delivery, overall patient
satisfaction and ED efficiency. ED efficiency will be assessed by ED length of patient stay,
ED left-without-being-seen and ED left during treatment rates.
Participants who decide to take part in this study, will be asked questions by research
staff, who will document responses on a secure iPAD device. The survey will ask participants
how they feel about their health condition, the emergency department wait, the care they
received in the emergency department and how satisfied the participant was with the care
received.
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