Background & Aims: Patient satisfaction is an important indicator of quality of care and service delivery. Assessment of patients’ satisfaction with their emergency department (ED) experience can have an effective role in improvement of emergency department services.

Materials & Methods: This study was carried out in one week and during all shifts, by trained researchers using standard Press Ganey questionnaire. The study questionnaire included 30 questions, based on Likert scale, and comprised of four sections namely: identification and waiting time, registration process, physical comfort and nursing and physician care, and overall satisfaction of emergency department. The data were analyzed descriptively.

Results: 303 patients were included in this study. The highest satisfaction rates were observed in the items of courtesy of physicians (86.6%) and courtesy of nurses (85%). The patients rated high dissatisfaction with these items: cleanliness of emergency room (21.4%), care provider's efforts to include patient in decisions about treatment (19.8%) and to give information about medications (19.7%) and waiting time before first visit by the care provider (16.4%). The mean waiting time for first visit of physician was 14.1 minutes. Sixty two percent (CI: 55.1, 68.99) of the patients rated their general satisfaction with emergency setting as good or very good.

Conclusion: The key elements of the patient satisfaction were courtesy of nurses, physicians and waiting time for first visit. The study findings indicate that satisfaction rate is relatively acceptable in the emergency care services, such as: medical care, nursing care, Courtesy of staff, physical comfort and waiting time. Efforts should focus on shortening waiting intervals and improving patients' perceptions about waiting in ED and also improving the overall cleanliness of emergency room. 

SOURCE: URMIA MED J 2012: 23(1): 100 ISSN: 1027-3727