• Emergency Department Survey. South Bend (IN): Press Ganey Associates, Inc.; 2001. 4 p.

Does not apply to this measure

1. Patient satisfaction is both an indicator of quality of care, and a component of quality care.

In 2001, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) advocated a patient-centered model of care (Crossing the Quality Chasm: A New Health System for the 21st Century). In part, this is a reflection of the growing understanding that

"...patients constantly judge the motives and competence of caregivers through their interaction with them. This judgment is a very personal one, based on perceptions of care being responsive to patients' "individual needs," rather than to any universal code of standards (McGlynn, 1997). When these individual needs are perceived as being met, better care results. Lohr (1997) notes: "Inferior care results when health professionals lack full mastery of their clinical areas or cannot communicate effectively and compassionately." In short, when patients perceive motives, communication, empathy, and clinical judgment positively, they will respond more positively to care...Sobel (1995) claims that improved communication and interaction between caregiver and patient improves actual outcome. Donabedian (1988) notes that "...the interpersonal process is the vehicle by which technical care is implemented and on which its success depends" (from Press [2002] Patient Satisfaction: Defining, Measuring, and Improving the Experience of Care, Health Administration Press).

It is clear that patients quite actively evaluate what is happening to them during the experience of care. The degree to which the patient judges the care experience as satisfactory "...is not only an indicator of the quality of care, but a component of quality care, as well" (Press, 2002).

2. In addition to its connection to quality of care and clinical outcomes, Patient Satisfaction has been linked to the following:

• Healthcare employee satisfaction and retention
• Healthcare facility competitive market strength
• Hospital profitability
• Risk management (likelihood of being sued)

Emergency department care satisfaction

Patients with an emergency department (ED) visit during the reporting period who answered at least one question in the "Overall Assessment" section of the Emergency Department Survey. Deceased patients, patients admitted to hospital through the ED, patients who leave the ED against medical advice, patients who leave the ED without being seen, and patients transferred to another hospital/institution are not eligible.

The mean of all the patients' scores for the "Overall Assessment" section of the Emergency Department Survey

Refer to the "Press Ganey's Emergency Department Survey: Calculation of Scores Information" document listed in the "Companion Documents" field for additional details.

• A formal consensus procedure involving experts in relevant clinical, methodological, and organizational sciences
• A systematic review of the clinical literature
• Focus groups
• One or more research studies published in a National Library of Medicine (NLM) indexed, peer-reviewed journal

Unspecified

Current routine use

Internal quality improvement

Emergency Medical Services

Measure is not provider specific

Single Health Care Delivery Organizations

Unspecified

Either male or female

Unspecified

Unspecified

Unspecified

Unspecified

Unspecified

Unspecified

Getting Better

Patient-centeredness

Users of care only

All patients with an emergency department visit during the reporting period

Inclusions
Patients with an emergency department (ED) visit during the reporting period who answered at least one question in the "Overall Assessment" section of the Emergency Department Survey

Exclusions
Deceased patients, patients admitted to hospital through the ED, patients who leave the ED against medical advice, patients who leave the ED without being seen, and patients transferred to another hospital/institution are not eligible.

All cases in the denominator are equally eligible to appear in the numerator

Encounter

Time window is a fixed period of time

Inclusions
The mean of all the patients' scores for the "Overall Assessment" section of the Emergency Department Survey

Exclusions
Unspecified

The measure results are somewhat or substantially under the control of the health care professionals, organizations and/or policymakers to whom the measure applies.

Encounter or point in time

Administrative data and patient survey

Individual Case

Unspecified

Non-weighted Score/Composite/Scale

Better quality is associated with a higher score

Analysis by subgroup (stratification on patient factors, geographic factors, etc.)

External comparison of time trends
Internal time comparison

The Emergency Room Survey was developed in 1988 and was revised and renamed the Emergency Department Survey in 2001. A Client Advisory Committee (CAC), representing physicians, nurses, technicians and administrators, was formed to discuss changes, to review early drafts of prototype questionnaires, and to provide feedback throughout the revision process. The revised survey was tested with the assistance of ten ED test sites across the U.S. The instrument was found to be psychometrically sound across a wide variety of tests of reliability and validity. Refer to the original documentation (Emergency Department Survey Psychometrics) for further details.

• Emergency Department Survey Psychometrics. South Bend (IN): Press Ganey Associates, Inc.; 2001. 10 p.



• Hall MF, Press I. Keys to patient satisfaction in the emergency department: results of a multiple facility study. Hosp Health Serv Admin 1996;41(4):515-32.

Emergency Department Survey, Overall Assessment.

Press Ganey Associates, Inc.

Press Ganey Associates, Inc.

Patients, nurses, technicians, administrators, physicians, existing clients, Press Ganey Associates, Inc. employees

None known

This measure was not adapted from another source.

1988 Jan

2001 Jan

This is the current release of the measure.

• Emergency Department Survey. South Bend (IN): Press Ganey Associates, Inc.; 2001. 4 p.

This NQMC summary was completed by ECRI on March 27, 2003. The information was verified by Press Ganey Associates on April 16, 2003.