2010 Emergency Department Pulse ReportThe Emergency Department Pulse Report analyzes data from more than 1.5 million patient experiences in nearly 1,900 ED’s across the county. Press Ganey partners with more than 10,000 health care facilities — including over 40% of U.S. hospitals — to measure and improve the quality of their care.
2009 Emergency Department Pulse ReportThe 2009 Emergency Department Pulse Report analyzed data from nearly 1.4 million patient experiences in 1,725 EDs across the country. The findings and observations in the Emergency Department Pulse Report highlight progress being made in hospitals, emphasize areas for improvement, and explore the path to improving the quality of health care in the United States.
2008 Emergency Department Pulse ReportPress Ganey Associates, Inc., the health care industry's leading provider of quality improvement solutions, released the 2008 Emergency Department Pulse Report: Patient Perspectives on American Health Care. Patients report longer emergency department (ED) visits and also indicate that communication about delays was the top priority for improvement when evaluating their entire experience in the ED.
MethodologyPress Ganey's emergency department survey gives patients who have been treated and released from emergency departments the opportunity to provide feedback about their stay. The survey is used by emergency departments across the United States to improve the quality of the service and care they deliver.
Key insights
Total time spent in ED
The Pulse Report collects data from patients regarding their total time (door-to-door) spent in the ED. According to the 2010 Pulse Report, which analyzes data from 2009, patients spent an average of 247 minutes, or four hours and seven minutes, in the ED. When compared with data in 2002, that’s an additional 31 minutes in the emergency department.See annual comparison graph.
A nationwide comparison of total time spent in the ED in 2009 reveals that Iowa ranks first, with the lowest average total time (175 minutes) spent in the ED.
See time spent – national comparison graph.
Patient satisfaction with ED
While we know total time spent in emergency departments has increased in the past several years, during this same time satisfaction is gradually improving as well. This slightly improved satisfaction may indicate that providers are doing a better job of focusing on improving quality and meeting patient needs.See trends in satisfaction graph.
Patients who spend more than two hours in the emergency department report less overall satisfaction with their visits than those who are there less than two hours. Since much of the time in the emergency department is spent waiting – in the waiting room, in the exam area, for tests, for discharge – reducing total time and keeping patients more informed should have a direct positive impact on patient satisfaction. The best way to get patients treated and discharged from the emergency department is to address overcrowding in general and get the critical patients through the emergency department and to the appropriate floor faster. This frees up resources for the less critical patients to be cared for and discharged from the emergency department.
See patient satisfaction by time spent in the ED graph.
Patient experiences can vary based on many factors, including where patients receive care. One might assume that small emergency departments may experience less crowding and wait time issues; however, larger facilities often take greater efforts to improve patient satisfaction even if total time spent is higher on average. Regions with the highest mean scores are setting a new standard for excellence. Remaining competitive requires a concentrated focus on meeting patient needs and expectations.
See top metro area map.
Comments on emergency department visits from over 1.5 million patients in 2009 were predominantly positive. In particular, well over two-thirds of comments about nurses, doctors, tests and treatment of family and friends were positive.
See patient comments graph.