A Unique Mathematical Framework for Optimizing Patient Satisfaction in Emergency Departments

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Fouman Faculty of Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Tehran, Iran

2 School of Industrial Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

In healthcare systems, emergency departments (EDs) are the most vital
elements, in that they provide critical and immediate healthcare services to the
patients 24 hours a day. Patient satisfaction is a crucial concept and a practical
tool for evaluating the performance of the EDs. This study presents a unique
framework for the performance optimization of an emergency department in a
big general hospital in Iran based on the standard patient satisfaction indicators.
Standard questionnaire is designed and used in a large and busy emergency
department. The reliability and validity of the questionnaires are obtained by
Cronbach’s alpha and parametric and non-parametric analysis of variance
(ANOVA), respectively. Afterwards, the most efficient data envelopment
analysis (DEA) model is selected and employed to assess the performance of the
emergency department based on the selected indicators. Results show that
certain indicators such as quality of equipment, performance of physicians and
treatment time have the greatest impact (weight) on overall patient satisfaction.
The framework of this study is a practical approach for all types of emergency
departments in the process of the improvement and optimization of patient
satisfaction

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

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Interdisciplinary Journal of Management Studies (Formerly known as Iranian Journal of Management Studies)
Volume 12, Issue 2
April 2019
Pages 255-279

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