What can COVID-19 teach us about patient satisfaction in the emergency department? A mixed-methods approach.

Objective: The current study explored improved patient satisfaction scores at a single emergency department (ED) during the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic (March to May 2020).

Methods: A mixed-methods design, integrating qualitative and quantitative data analyses, was employed to explore a total of 289 patient satisfaction survey ratings and 421 comments based on care that took place in the ED during the initial phase of the COVID-19 epidemic. This allowed for comparisons to a more typical time period in the ED along with the emergence of novel categories of influence.

High yield criteria for obtaining non-trauma chest radiography in the adult emergency department population.

To develop a clinical decision rule for predicting significant chest radiography abnormalities in adult Emergency Department (ED) patients, a prospective, observational study was conducted of consecutive adults (>or=18 years old) who underwent chest radiography for nontraumatic complaints at an urban ED with an annual census of 85,000. The official radiologist interpretation of the film was used as the gold standard for defining radiographic abnormalities. Using predefined criteria and author consensus, patients were divided into two groups: those with clinically significant abnormalities (CSA) and those with either normal or nonclinically significant abnormalities.