Difference in Emergency Department Patient Satisfaction When Treated by anEmergency Nurse Practitioner vs. Medical Doctors

摘要

This study attempted to answer the following research question: What is thedifference in Emergency Department (ED) patient satisfaction when cared for by an ENP vs. Medical Doctors (MDs). A descriptive study was used to identiiy the differences in ED patient satisfaction. It was conducted at a rural emergency department with a population of patients residing in Fayette and surrounding counties of Texas who presented to the ED. A convenience sample of patients was obtained. The inclusion criteria were patients who were at least 18 years of age, who were discharged to home from the ED, who could read and write English, and who could complete the survey without help from another person. Collection of data was accomplished through a 12 item patient satisfaction survey (PSS) developed by the investigator. The PSS asked patients to rate satisfaction by indicating the degree to which their expectations were met. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the demographic characteristics of the sample. Due to unequal sample sizes (ENP n = 26 , MD n = 12), Welch approximate t-test for independent samples was used to compare the ENP and MDs on their grand mean satisfaction score. There were no statistically significant differences between the ENP and MDs on the basis of the grand mean satisfaction score. A Mann-Whitney U test was used to compare the two groups on the basis of the patients' responses to individual satisfaction questions. This test found that there were no statistically significant differences in satisfaction scores be%veen the ENP and MDs at the .05 level.