Factors Affecting Patient Satisfaction With Emergency Department Care: An Italian Rural Hospital

BACKGROUND In the emergency department satisfaction is strictly linked to the role of the nurses, namely the first interface between patients and hospital services. OBJECTIVES The purpose of the study was to identify areas of emergency nursing activity associated with minor or major patient satisfaction. METHODS A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted from December 2010 - May 2011, in the rural hospital of Orbetello, Tuscany (Italy). Convenience sampling was used to select patients, namely patients presenting at the emergency unit in the study period. The Consumer Emergency Care Satisfaction Scale was used to collect information on two structured subscale (Caring and Teaching). RESULTS 259 questionnaire were collected. Analysis indicated that only two characteristics significantly influenced overall satisfaction: "receiving continuous information from personnel about delay" positively effect (OR=7.98; p=0.022) while "waiting time for examination" had a negative effect (OR 0.42; p=0.026). CONCLUSIONS The study was the first conduced in Italy using this instrument that enabled to obtain much important information about patient satisfaction with nursing care received in the emergency department. The results showing improvements must be related to educational aspects, such as explaining patients the colour waiting list, and communication towards patients, such as informing about emergences that cause queue.