The use of performance improvement methods to enhance emergency department patient satisfaction in the United States: a critical review of the literature and suggestions for future research.

Objectives: The authors reviewed the evidence on performance improvement methods for increasing emergency department (ED) patient satisfaction to provide evidence-based suggestions for clinical practice.

Methods: Data sources consisted of searches through MEDLINE, CINAHL, PSYCHINFO, Cochrane Library, and Emergency Medicine Abstracts and a manual search of references. Articles were included if they reported a performance improvement intervention targeting patient satisfaction in the ED setting.