THE CASE OF AL BARAHA HOSPITAL

Patient Satisfaction With Emergency Services

Abstract

Study objectives: To identify determinants of patient satisfaction with emergency department and to assess the properties of a satisfaction measurement questionnaire.

Design: Patient surrey, combined with routinely collected information on the circumstances of the department

Setting: Emergency department provided by an independent emergency care organization (ECO)

Participants: Consecutive sample of numbers of patients (67% response rate).

Main outcome measure: Patient satisfaction.

Predictor variables: patient age and sex, type of medical problem, time of visit, waiting time, duration of visit, perceived effectiveness of treatment.

Results: The satisfaction questionnaire was easy to administer. Factor analysis identified 3 separate dimensions of satisfaction, which pertained to the visit itself, to access and to general attitude toward the ECO. Validation tests were consistent with expectations. In multivariate analysis, older patient age and greater perceived treatment effectiveness predicted independently satisfaction scales.

Conclusion: The instrument used to measure patient satisfaction with emergency department performed well. Overall levels of satisfaction were high. Perceived effectiveness of treatment was the strongest correlate of patient satisfaction. Monitoring of patient satisfaction in emergency settings may contribute to improvements of quality of care.

Table Of Content

ABSTRACTII

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION1

Background1

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY3

CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW4

Patient Satisfaction in Context5

Why Pursue Patient Satisfaction?7

Demographic Variables and Patient Satisfaction9

The Big 5 Correlates With Satisfaction14

Empathy/Attitude14

Physician's Specific Correlates With Satisfaction16

Acceptable Wait Times18

Technical Competence20

Pain Management22

Information Dispensation24

Other Correlates26

Waiting times37

Communication and information42

Cultural aspects of care43

Pain and the patient experience44

The ED environment46

Dilemmas in accessing the patient experience48

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY58

CHAPTER 4: RESULTS63

Satisfaction with care76

Satisfaction with information77

Satisfaction with information in terms of gender, age, nationality, diagnosis and voluntary admission77

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION79

APPENDIX116

STATEMENT OF AUTHENTICITY AND WORD COUNT129

List of Tables

Table 1: Mean scores and their weights.68

Table 2: Correlation coefficient and their weights.69

Table 3: Gender based assessment by patients.69

Table 4: Assessment based on marital status.70

Table 5: Assessment based on specialty.71

Table 6: Patients' experience of unpleasant encounter with caregivers at A&E.72

Chapter I: Introduction

Background

Patient satisfaction is a useful indicator of the performance of health services. Little is known about specific aspects of patient satisfaction in emergency care settings. Emergency care differs from scheduled medical care in several aspects which may affect patient satisfaction: patients are often in acute distress, providers work in stressful conditions, no established relationship exists between the patient and the provider and the patient often has little choice when selecting a particular provider. In Britain, patients tend to be less satisfied with out-of-hours care provided by a substitute physician who stands in for their usual physician. Health care systems and hospitals in particular exist as the center for patient/consumer care delivery and are the organizational hub of a much larger health care provider network. In this latter capacity the modern hospital must now compete in an ever-expanding role as the provider of outpatient/consumer care, a more competitive health care environment, as well as a the leader of the much larger comprehensive managed care system. Consequently, hospitals are providers of services, which are intangible, inseparable, variable, and perishable. Moreover, existing consumer marketing research has found that production and consumption of the service ...