Abstract
Introduction
Unrealistic patient expectations for wait times can lead to poor satisfaction. This
study’s dual purpose was: (1) to address disparities between patients’ perceived priority
level and the Emergency Severity Index (ESI) assigned by emergency room triage nurses;
and (2) to evaluate validity and reliability of using the Patient Perception of Priority
to be Seen Survey (PPPSS) to investigate patient expectations for emergency department
urgency.
Methods
A two-group pretest-posttest quasi-experimental approach compared patient urgency
opinions to nurse urgency ratings with and without a scripted educational intervention.
This tested how closely patient perceptions were related to triage nurse ratings.
Results
Reliability for the PPPSS was acceptable (reliability = 0.75). Patients who were rated
lower urgency on the ESI by triage nurses tended to self-report higher urgency (rho
= −0.44, P < .01). Attitudes were more consistent in the posttest patient group who were exposed
to the scripted verbal description of emergency department procedures (χ2 (1, N = 352) = 8.09, P < .01). Patients who disagreed with emergency nurse scores tended to be younger on
average (eg, < 40 years old; rho = 0.69, P < .01). Male identified patients tended to be rated both by nurses and themselves
as higher urgency (beta = 0.18, P = .02).
Discussion
We recommend the PPPSS for nurses and researchers to quickly assess patient expectations.
Additionally, promoting patient understanding through a scripted educational strategy
about the ESI system may also result in improvements in communication between patients
and nurses.
Key words
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Biography
Joshua Ray Tanzer is a Biostatistician, Lifespan Biostatistics, Epidemiology, Research Design, Informatics Core, Providence, RI.
Biography
Marlene Dufault is Professor and Nursing Consultant, University of Rhode Island, Department of Nursing, Kingston, RI.
Biography
Linda Roderick Rioux is Staff Nurse Newport Hospital Emergency Department, Department of Emergency Medicine, Newport, RI.
Biography
Jason Machan is Director of the Lifespan ClinTECH Center and Lifespan Biostatistics, Epidemiology, and Research Design Core, Providence, RI.
Biography
Kathy Bergeron is Clinical Nurse Educator, Newport Hospital and Adjunct Faculty, Department of Nursing, Salve Regina University, Newport, RI.
Biography
Anthony Napoli is Professor of Emergency Medicine, Department of Emergency Medicine, Warren Alpert School of Medicine at Brown University and Chair, Department of Emergency Medicine, Newport Hospital Emergency Department, Newport, RI.
Article info
Publication history
Published online: December 23, 2022
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© 2022 Emergency Nurses Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
