Patient-Centered Process Optimization in A German Emergency Department With A Particular Focus on Sufficient Pain Management: A Best Practice Model for the Continouus Improvement of Quality and Patient Satisfaction

Patrick Ristau, Stephanie Pfeuffer

Abstract


While pain is the main reason for patients to visit a
hospital’s emergency department (ED), it is a hardly explored
phenomenon in this context. Moreover, while effective pain
management is the most important dimension of patient
satisfaction in EDs, there is a lack of studies in Central Europe
which could be used for optimizing the deficient pain
management in these units. This study will clarify whether the
implementation of an interdisciplinary structured pain management
improves the care of patients in the emergency room and
whether its use improves patient satisfaction. Additionally, it
investigates whether the implementation of such a structured
pain management system will also bring advantages for the work
of personnel employed in the emergency room. To this end, a
multimethod approach was chosen, in which both the patients
treated in the emergency room and the staff working there were
interviewed by a written survey during a two-week examination
period before and after the implementation. Included were all
patients of the somatic departments who met the ethical criteria,
as well as all doctors and nurses. Data analysis and processing
was carried out using Microsoft Excel. It was found that the use
of a structured pain management system leads to better, more
effective pain treatment of the patients in the emergency
department and increases their overall satisfaction with their
treatment. Furthermore, it is easy to use by the staff and reduces
their workload so that they have more time to spend on patient care.


Keywords


patient satisfaction; emergency department; process optimization; pain management; stakeholder focusing; best practice

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References


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