Running Head: Time Spent by Patients in Emergency Department
Time spent by patients in emergency department.
Name of Student: Kim Hanson
Registration No:
High school
Course
Instructor
Introduction
The emergency department has become the reception for United States hospitals. It now accounts for more than half of all admissions in the U S A. This paper will discuss the total time patients spent in the emergency department.
Discussion
The time spent in the emergency department has been increasing over the years. This has been the case because the quality of services has been improving with time. This has made patients be satisfied with the services provided in the emergency department.
Patients who stay more than two hours in the emergency department have reported less overall satisfaction to their visits than those who are at the emergency department for less than two hours. Much time at the emergency department is spent waiting in the waiting bay, in the examination room, waiting for test and discharge. Reducing this time for patients and keeping then well informed will have a positive impact towards their satisfaction.
The most appropriate way to treat and discharge patients from the emergency department is to avoid overcrowding and get the critical patients from the emer4gency department to the relevant area as fast as possible. This frees some resources for patients who are less critical to be taken care of and be discharge d from the emergency department.
Patients’ experiences vary depending on various factors including the place that patients receive care. Small emergency department may be assumed to be less crowded and face little way time issues. This is not the case because patients still come to these departments in equal measure expecting to receive the care they would have got in larger units.
Conclusion
Meeting patient needs and expectations should be of utmost importance so as to reduce the time that patients spent in the emergency departments. Most emergency departments are doing much effort to ensure that they improve the services they offer to patients and save the patients` time.
Reference
http://www.pressganey.com/researchResources/hospitals/emergencyDepartment/emergencyPulsereport.aspx
