OBJECTIVE:
We aimed to investigate the factors related to
satisfaction with the pediatric
emergency department service in
Korea.
METHODS:
This study examined data from the
Korea Health Panel Data from 2010 to 2012. Pediatric
patients who visited the
emergency department at least once between 2010 and 2012 in
Korea were included. Data were collected on
patient satisfaction with the
emergency department service, and factors related to the
patient characteristics,
emergency department service process, and medical institution. We compared the dissatisfied and satisfied groups, and calculated the
odds ratios for
satisfaction according to each variable.
RESULTS:
A total of 1,505
emergency department visits from 947 pediatric
patients during the 3-year period were analyzed. We estimated that about 79.5% of
patients in the
population were satisfied. The odds of expressing
satisfaction were higher among
males than in
females, and among
patients who were hospitalized after
emergency department treatment compared to those
who were transferred to another
hospital. Conversely, the odds of expressing
satisfaction were lower among
patients who had a
chronic disease, a financial source other than
National Health Insurance, experienced
hospitalization within 1 year.
CONCLUSION:
Our study results might be helpful for establishing a satisfactory pediatric
emergency medical service system. In the
future, further
prospective studies evaluating the causal relationships between the relevant factors and
patient satisfaction are warranted.