The comparison of satisfaction of patients referring to the emergency departments of hospitals in Arak during 2006-7 and 2009

From an administrational point of view, patient satisfaction with healthcare, diagnosis, and rehabilitation services is highly important. The present study was done to evaluate the satisfaction of patients referring to the emergency departments of hospitals in Arak. This study was a descriptive-analytic, cross-sectional one which was carried out using a questionnaire. The collected data were analyzed by SPSS software and the related tests. Overall, over the first period, 72.9% of the patients were satisfied with the services, whereas this level of satisfaction reached 73.3% in the second period. By comparison, levels of satisfaction with the physical environment (86.2%), health condition (85.9%), speed and accuracy of care provider (69.6%), the quality of information provision (23.1%), behavior of guards and staff (60.2%), facilities (60.1%), drug availability (66.4%), discharge and costs (51.6%), and consideration of religious issues (86.6%) in the emergency departments over the first period reached 87.4%, 84.1%, 69.7%, 25.6%, 61.7%,67.9%, 50.9%, and 88.1%, respectively over the second period. The findings of this study showed that patients’ satisfaction with emergency departments’ services was reasonable. The greatest dissatisfaction was related to costs, drugs, procedural problems, method of treatment, facilities, wait time, and insufficient information provision.