Bidari Ali, Jafarnejad Shabahang, Alaei Faradonbeh Nazanin
Emergency Medicine Department, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Arch Acad Emerg Med. 2021 Sep 5;9(1):e59. doi: 10.22037/aaem.v9i1.1335. eCollection 2021.
Patients' experience in hospitals affects their satisfaction. The purpose of the present study was to assess the effect of applying a queue management system on patient satisfaction in emergency department waiting rooms.
The present prospective randomized single-blinded interventional study was performed from July to August 2020 and involved 236 patients that were divided into one intervention group and one control group, each consisting of 118 patients. The mentioned patients' perception of the waiting time and satisfaction before being visited by an emergency medicine doctor was evaluated with and without applying the queue management system.
The mean actual waiting time (15.5 ± 7.5 minutes) as well as the mean perceived waiting time (11.9 ± 7.4 minutes) for the intervention group were significantly lower than those of the control group with the values of 27.03 ± 8.5 and 32.8 ± 8.7 minutes, respectively (p < 0.001). The mean perceived waiting time was significantly less than the mean actual waiting time (11.9 min vs 15.5 minutes) for the intervention group (p <0.001); however, the mean perceived waiting time was significantly higher than the mean actual waiting time (32.8 vs 27.03 minutes) for the control group (p < 0.001). The level of satisfaction in the intervention group was significantly higher than that of the control group (p <0.001). There was an inverse relationship between the actual waiting time (Intervention group: r=-0.463; Control group: r= -0.567) and the perceived waiting time (Intervention group: r= -0.439; Control group: r= -0.568) with the satisfaction level in both groups (p < 0.001).
It can be proposed that the application of a queue management system in the emergency department waiting rooms can reduce the actual and perceived waiting times and increase the patient satisfaction.
患者在医院的体验会影响他们的满意度。本研究的目的是评估应用排队管理系统对急诊科候诊室患者满意度的影响。
本前瞻性随机单盲干预研究于2020年7月至8月进行，纳入236例患者，分为一个干预组和一个对照组，每组118例。在应用和未应用排队管理系统的情况下，评估上述患者在急诊科医生接诊前对等待时间的感知和满意度。
干预组的平均实际等待时间（15.5±7.5分钟）以及平均感知等待时间（11.9±7.4分钟）均显著低于对照组，对照组的相应值分别为27.03±8.5分钟和32.8±8.7分钟（p<0.001）。干预组的平均感知等待时间显著短于平均实际等待时间（11.9分钟对15.5分钟）（p<0.001）；然而，对照组的平均感知等待时间显著长于平均实际等待时间（32.8分钟对27.03分钟）（p<0.001）。干预组的满意度水平显著高于对照组（p<0.001）。两组的实际等待时间（干预组：r=-0.463；对照组：r=-0.567）和感知等待时间（干预组：r=-0.439；对照组：r=-0.568）与满意度水平均呈负相关（p<0.001）。
可以提出，在急诊科候诊室应用排队管理系统可减少实际和感知等待时间，并提高患者满意度。
