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Patient expectations of emergency department care: phase I – a focus group study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 May 2015

Denise Watt ,
William Wertzler  and
Gordon Brannan
Denise Watt*
Affiliation:
Department of Emergency Medicine, Calgary, Alta.
William Wertzler
Affiliation:
Department of Emergency Medicine, Calgary, Alta.
Gordon Brannan
Affiliation:
Survey and Evaluation Unit, Quality Improvement and Health Information, Calgary Health Region, Calgary, Alta.
*
Department of Emergency Medicine, Calgary Health Region, 1403 29th St. NW, Calgary AB T2N 2T9;403 944-1820, fax 403 944-2419, da_watt@telus.net

Abstract

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Objectives:

To explore the public's expectations of emergency department care and to compare these with emergency department staff perceptions of patient expectations.

Methods:

Focus groups were conducted with the residents of Calgary, Alta., and with emergency department staff in the Calgary Health Region. Both recent users of the emergency department and people who had not used the emergency department in the past 3 years were included in this study. An experienced moderator conducted the focus groups, which were taped and then transcribed. A well established method of qualitative analysis identified common themes.

Results:

The focus groups identified common expectations of emergency department care. Public expectations were categorized into 6 thematic areas: staff communication with patients, appropriate waiting times, the triage process, information management, quality of care, and improvements to existing services. Those who had recently used the emergency department had similar expectations to those who had not. Emergency department care providers understand some, but not all, of the public's expectations.

Conclusions:

Public expectations of emergency department care were identified by this study. The findings are important for quality improvement initiatives and were used to develop a quantitative questionnaire.

Keywords

patient expectationscommunicationemergency care
Type
ED Administration • L’administration de la MU
Information
Canadian Journal of Emergency Medicine , Volume 7 , Issue 1 , January 2005 , pp. 12 - 16
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians 2005

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