Authoritative Report on Emergency Department Experiences Rele...( Americans Report Communication ...),Health

Americans Report Communication about Delays Biggest Priority for

Improvement

SOUTH BEND, Ind., June 10 /PRNewswire/ -- Press Ganey Associates, Inc., the health care industry's leading provider of quality improvement solutions, today released the 2008 Emergency Department Pulse Report: Patient Perspectives on American Health Care. Patients report longer emergency department (ED) visits and also indicate that communication about delays was the top priority for improvement when evaluating their entire experience in the ED.

The Emergency Department Pulse Report analyzes the experiences of more than 1.5 million patients treated at 1,656 emergency departments nationwide in 2007. Notable findings from the 2008 Report include:

-- Patients spend an average of 4 hours, 6 minutes in the emergency

department, up from 4 hours even just a year ago. This continues the

upward trend observed compared to the previous year.

-- There is wide variability from state to state in the amount of time

spent in the ED. Average times by state range from 2 3/4 hours to

nearly 6 1/2 hours.

-- There is also notable variation in overall satisfaction based on

geographic location. Emergency departments in Milwaukee, WI ranked

highest in levels of patient satisfaction nationwide. Rounding out the

top 10 in patient satisfaction were the metropolitan area emergency

departments of Columbus, OH; Miami, FL; Detroit, MI; Indianapolis, IN;

Pittsburgh, PA; Boston, MA; Kansas City, KS; Chicago, IL; and St.

Louis, MO.

-- Time spent in the emergency department is a critical factor in the

overall satisfaction of patients that causes dramatic shifts in

satisfaction. While patient satisfaction decreases with longer

visits, the good news is that EDs can mitigate this

dissatisfaction --
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