A study by the Indiana University School of Medicine and the Regenstrief Institute, both based in Indianapolis, found that a certain set of factors have measurable effects on patient experience, though the effects vary by degree. Specifically, these factors were patients complaining of pain upon arrival to the emergency department, being placed in hallway beds during treatment and receiving a radiology study in the ED.
The study, published Jan. 18 in PubMed, analyzed survey data from 58,622 patient visits across 13 Indiana University Health EDs.
Here’s what researchers found:
Patient pain: The amount of pain the patient was in when they arrived at the ED was associated with a negative patient experience. Moreover, the more pain patients had, the poorer their experience.
Hallway beds: Patients who were placed in hallway beds to relieve ED overcrowding reported less positive experiences, regardless of whether they received timely care. The study authors said this could be due to patients receiving more rushed communications.
Radiology studies: Patients gave more positive experience scores after receiving a radiology study such as an X-ray, ultrasound, CT or MRI scans in the ED. The authors speculated that such positive experience reports could be due to “additional radiology orders … placed for ED patients when thorough and patient-centered histories were taken.”
“There may be patients who would rather wait an hour and be seen in a private room than be seen right now in a hallway bed,” first author Diane Kuhn, MD, PhD, said in the release. “There may be patients who have a critical work meeting or they have kids whom they need to get home to now, and they’re absolutely fine with being seen in a hallway as long as they can speak with the clinician now. We need to figure out those pieces to take care of everyone with their diverse needs in the best manner possible.”
