Patient satisfaction in a university hospital emergency department in Turkey

Patient satisfaction, an indicator of the quality of care provided by emergency department (ED) personnel, is a significant issue for EDs. The purpose of this study was to identify factors associated with patient satisfaction and dissatisfaction, and to describe demographic characteristics of those surveyed in a university hospital ED.

All adult patients who consecutively presented to the ED between 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. on weekdays were included in the study. Patients were asked to complete a questionnaire prior to discharge. The questionnaire asked about the attitude, politeness, and efficiency of the medical and ancillary staff, the reason for preferring our centre and reasons for dissatisfaction.

Two-hundred and forty-five adult patients presenting to our ED were included in this study. Forty-five percent of patients preferred our ED because of the previous perception of higher quality of care, informed by other people previously treated in this ED unit, and 35% because of restrictions by their health insurance carrier. The main causes of patient dissatisfaction were lengthy waiting times (27%).

As a result, lengthy waiting time was the major reason for patient dissatisfaction, and high quality care together with insurance restrictions were the main reasons for preference of this university hospital ED.