Asthma patients prefer ED to hospital
Asthma patients prefer ED to hospital
Patients suffering from an acute asthma episode who are admitted to the emergency department (ED) are more satisfied with their care if they remain for 12 hours in an emergency room-based observation unit than if they are admitted to the hospital, a study says.
Researchers studied 163 asthma patients admitted to the ED over a 30-month period who met the criteria for hospital admission after three hours of ED asthma therapy. They randomly selected 81 patients to receive care in an ED-based observation unit and 82 patients to be routinely admitted to the hospital.
Patients in the observation unit group scored higher after diagnosis and treatment than those in the inpatient group on seven care satisfaction measures.
The observation unit group scored significantly higher than the inpatient group on these four measures:
• received services desired;
• would recommend the service to others;
• were satisfied with service;
• were satisfied overall with care.
In addition, the observation unit group reported fewer total problems with care and fewer problems with communication, emotional support, physical comfort, and special needs than inpatients.
(See: Rydman RJ, Roberts RR, Albrecht GL, et al. Patient satisfaction with an emergency department asthma observation unit. Acad Emerg Med 1999; 6:178-183.)
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