Triage effect on wait time of receiving treatment services and patients satisfaction in the emergency department: Example from Iran

BACKGROUND Long wait time interval in emergency department (ED) of hospitals, from the patients' point of view in ED is a major problem causing patients' dissatisfaction and may result increasing in patient morbidity and indirectly nurses dissatisfaction. Evaluation of wait time intervals in ED and giving nursing feedback may improve the quality of services, as well as patient satisfaction. The present study was designed to investigate the effect of nursing triage on receiving treatment of wait time interval and satisfaction of the patients referring to ED in Shahid Rajaee hospital. MATERIALS AND METHODS This study was conducted on patients those referring to Shahid Rajaee hospital in Karaj, Iran employing quasi experimental design d ividing in two experiment and control groups during 2009. This is a quasi-experimental study of which the data were collected by standard questionnaire covering patient satisfaction and measuring wait time. T-test, Mann-Whitney and frequency analysis were used to evaluate the effect of triage on wait time from receiving treatment services and patients' satisfaction. RESULTS The findings showed that there was a significant difference between experiment and control groups regarding wait time from receiving treatment services and patients' satisfaction. CONCLUSIONS Triage could significantly reduce the wait time interval between patients' entrance to ED to receive treatment services and enhance patients' satisfaction. It may help nursing in emergency ward to have better performance and indirectly their satisfaction.