Emergency Patient Complaints in Turkish Patients

Purpose: This study was conducted for the purpose of determining emergency patient complaints in Turkish patients. Materials and Methods: This study, designed as a descriptive and analytic type of research, was conducted between December 9, 2006, and June 30, 2007, with 1514 patients in the emergency department of a private hospital in Istanbul, Turkey. Data collected consisted of 3 measures: (1) a 13-question “Individual Characteristics Form”; (2) a 35-item “Evaluation of Patient Complaints Form,” which utilized a face-to-face interview method; and (3) a “Triage Categories Form,” a 5-tier triage tool used by the emergency department where this study took place. Results: In this study, 70% of the patients were between 16 and 43 years of age, 57% were female, 76% were triage category 4 (less urgent patients needing to be treated within, at the most, 1 hour), and 62.3% (n = 943) stated that they were “very pleased” with the service they received in the emergency department. However, some of the patients who rated themselves as having a very serious health problem were not satisfied at all with the emergency department. In turn, as the period of time increased before their first emergency intervention was begun, their dissatisfaction with their emergency care increased. Among the ED patient complaints, the most common was “the presence of curtains between the beds in the rooms and the beds being uncomfortable.” Conclusions: The characteristic need of an ED patient is (a desire to) receive service within a short period. A high percentage of patients with serious health problems waited 5 minutes or extra time before their first emergency intervention was begun. Based on these results, it is recommended that ED physician and nursing leadership create policies and practices that allow emergency interventions to occur as soon as possible upon patient arrival.