Patient satisfaction in hospital-based emergency departments: recommendation for healthcare management and policy

This study was aimed to examine patient satisfaction in Taiwan hospital-based emergency departments (ED). The 460 ED patients were surveyed – 66 from medical centres, 101 form regional hospitals and 293 from district hospitals. A structured questionnaire were developed covering three service dimensions including perceived waiting times, service quality of medical professionals and physical environments in the ED. The overall ED patient satisfaction and willingness to promote the ED were also measured. It found that perceived waiting times and professional service quality were the factors associated with the overall ED patient satisfaction and willingness to promote the ED. In addition, this study might be the first one to examine the ED about their physical environments. As expected, the issue of privacy, clearness, noises, air smell, temperature and direction signals had played important roles on the overall ED patient satisfaction and willingness to promote the ED.