Abstract
Introduction Many Emergency Departments (ED) publish wait times; however, the patient perspective in what information is requested and the quantity of information to post is limited. Methods We conducted a mixed-methods study at a tertiary care academic center. First, we conducted focus groups of 7 patients. We then generated themes following content analysis to create a patient survey. We administered in-person surveys to patients in ED waiting rooms at sites randomized for survey administration. We used preassigned shifts utilized for even patient perspective representation of the 24 hours-a-day/7 days-a-week service. We included waiting room patients over 18 years of age and excluded patients directly referred to a specialty service or who did not speak French or English. We analyzed survey data using descriptive statistics. Results We identified nine dominant focus group themes: wait time definition, wait time notification, communication, education, patient expectations, utilization of the ED, patient behaviour, physical comfort, and patient empowerment. Of the 240 patient questionnaires administered, 81.3% of respondents wanted to know ED wait times before hospital arrival hospital and 90.8% wanted ED wait times posted in the waiting room. Website (46.7%) was the most popular choice for publishing wait times outside the ED. Within the ED, patients had no preference regarding display modality, if times were displayed (39.6%). Overall, 76.7% stated that their satisfaction with the ED would be improved if wait times were posted. Conclusion ED patients strongly supported having access to wait time information. Patients believed having wait time information will have a positive impact on their overall ED satisfaction.
Highlights
Many Emergency Departments (ED) publish wait times; the patient perspective in what information is requested and the quantity of information to post is limited
Nine themes were identified from the focus groups, as displayed in Supplementary Materials (Appendix 1) with representative quotations. ematic saturation was reached after the first focus group; the subsequent focus group did not identify new themes. e nine dominant focus group themes were (1) patient definition of wait time, (2) wait time notification method, (3) the lack of communication patients felt while waiting to be seen by physicians, (4) education regarding wait times and ED process in waiting room, (5) patient expectations in the ED waiting room, (6) how patients utilize the ED, (7) patient behavioural response to posting ED wait times, (8) physical comfort while waiting in the ED, and (9) patient empowerment during the ED wait
A 32-question patient survey was developed using the themes that emerged from the focus groups (see Supplementary Materials (Appendix 3) for Survey Questions)
Summary
Many Emergency Departments (ED) publish wait times; the patient perspective in what information is requested and the quantity of information to post is limited. 76.7% stated that their satisfaction with the ED would be improved if wait times were posted. Patients believed having wait time information will have a positive impact on their overall ED satisfaction. Many EDs rationalize publishing wait times as a strategy to improve patient satisfaction and decrease wait times by deflecting patient volumes from congested EDs [1, 2]. While research has debated whether or not patients will use posted wait time information, limited research has sought to consider the patient perspective in what quality and quantity of information to post [2]
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