Evaluation of an Emergency Department Patient Advocacy Program

In the Patient Advocacy Program at the Adult Emergency Department of The Johns Hopkins Hospital, first year medical and health associate students provide patient teaching, crisis intervention, emotional support, assistance in patient-provider-family communication, resource referrals, information and assistance in maintaining patients' rights. The advocacy program was evaluated through a three-month trial of a Control Group, Patient Advocacy Group, Halo Group and Placebo Group, including 412 study subjects in all. It was hypothesized that patients' satisfaction, behavior and knowledge would improve significantly as a result of the advocate's intervention in this order: Patient Advocacy, Halo, Placebo and Control. Patient interviews and medical reports were used to assess the impact of patient advocacy. Results did not support the hypotheses of either improvement or the ranked order. Competition with traditional roles, identification of advocates with providers rather than patients, and placing the needs of the institution over patients were suggested as explanations for the advocacy program's failure.