The Role of Emergency Medicine Specialist on Performance of the Emergency Department of Kerman Shahid Bahonar Hospital: A Qualitative Study

Emergency department is the important part of the healthcare system. Today, the need for integrated emergency care services and delivering qualified care services have been felt more than before. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of emergency medicine specialists on performance of the emergency department of Shahid Bahonar hospital, Kerman.
This phenomenological qualitative study was conducted on 16 emergency medicine specialists (EMSs) and nurses of emergency department and Emergency Operations Center (EOC) who were selected using purposeful sampling in 2015. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and analyzed using framework analysis.
The main themes included economics impact, service quality promotion, and emergency management. Some sub-themes included hospitals revenue improvement, tariffs definition for emergency services, effective treatment, improvement of emergency team knowledge, emergency department management, and triage quality improvement.
With presence of EMS in healthcare system, the quality of healthcare delivery system has been improved and waiting time for healthcare services has been significantly decreased. By decreasing waiting time, determining of patient statue and determining the ward for patient in the hospital, emergency beds for other possible admissions and emergency preparedness for future admissions will be kept empty.