Date of Award

2019

Document Type

Dissertation - MUSC Only

Degree Name

Doctor of Health Administration

College

College of Health Professions

First Advisor

Jillian Harvey

Second Advisor

Kit N. Simpson

Third Advisor

Adam Higman

Abstract

Emergency department (ED) patients comprise the largest percentage of patients admitted to hospitals in the U.S. and these patients greatly influence overall hospital ratings and satisfaction scores. There are many key drivers of ED experience that are linked to patient satisfaction, such as ED wait times and delays and communication between patients, families and their care teams in this setting. The ED is a unique setting where doctors and staff are short on time and dealing with a high volume of patients in some of the most critical situations. These conditions often make it difficult to meet or exceed a patients’ expectations for the timeliness of care and the attention they receive. Previous literature reviews have examined the effects of actual waiting time, perception of waiting time, information delivery, and expressive quality on patient satisfaction in an ED setting, however; additional information is needed to understand current challenges in achieving patient satisfaction. Emergency medicine encompasses many unique and complex characteristics and challenges that need to be further examined to fully understand how a patient’s experience in the ED correlates to overall patient satisfaction scores. Study objective: The primary objective of this research project is to identify the challenges that exist in achieving patient satisfaction in an ED setting, given the measures and domains of patient satisfaction that the evidence suggests are essential to patient experience. Study Design and Methodology: This qualitative study will be comprised of an integrative review utilizing various search engines such as Google, and literature search platforms such as PubMed, utilizing the MEDLINE database. Google search will be used to find websites, blogs and vendors related to the specified topic. PubMed will be utilized for literature reviews with the following primary search criteria-“patient satisfaction” then “ER” or “ED” followed by linked association between words from years 2008 to present. Primary journals targeted in this effort are Journal of Emergency Medicine and Annals of Emergency Medicine. Through extensive literature reviews and examination of existing research in this field, this study seeks to expand upon best practices for increasing ED patient satisfaction and address gaps in the literature where information may be limited or unavailable especially in areas of patient wait times and delays, information delivery, pain management, physician communication, and utilization of caring behaviors.

Rights

All rights reserved. Copyright is held by the author.

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