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. 2015 Sep 30;2(3):179-183.
doi: 10.15441/ceem.15.050. eCollection 2015 Sep.

Satisfaction with facial laceration repair by provider specialty in the emergency department

Sang-Jae Lee  1 , Young-Duck Cho  1 , Sung-Jun Park  1 , Jung-Youn Kim  1 , Young-Hoon Yoon  1 , Sung-Hyuk Choi  1
Affiliations

Satisfaction with facial laceration repair by provider specialty in the emergency department

Sang-Jae Lee et al. Clin Exp Emerg Med. .

Abstract

Objective: We compared patient satisfaction with scarring after facial laceration repair in the emergency department (ED) based on the specialty of the provider.

Methods: Patients with facial lacerations admitted to the ED from 2009 to 2013 were divided into two groups. One group of patients underwent repair by an emergency physician (EP) and the other by a plastic surgeon (PS). From August 2014 to September 2014, we randomly selected 10% of all patients and assessed their degree of satisfaction with scarring over the phone using a 5-point Likert scale.

Results: The male to female ratio was 2.81 in the EP group and 2.05 in PS (P<0.001). The proportion of those aged 0 to 9 years among all the patients was higher in the PS group than in the EP group (50.8% vs. 30.1%, respectively, P<0.001). The duration of ED stay was 107.8±84.6 minutes in the EP group and 225.9 ± 161.8 minutes in the PS group (P<0.001). Among these patients, 228 responded to a telephone survey. A poor satisfaction score of 1 to 2 was more common in female or young patients who underwent repair by an EP (P<0.05). However, the overall satisfaction among all respondents did not differ between the two groups.

Conclusion: Although female patients and the guardians of young children who underwent simple facial laceration repair by a PS were more satisfied than those treated by an EP, the satisfaction of the entire group of patients did not differ according to the treatment provider.

Keywords: Emergency service, hospital; Facial laceration; Personal satisfaction.

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Conflict of interest statement

No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.

Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
The proportion of patients receiving surgical treatment by specialty in each age group. All P-values for differences in each age group was less than 0.05.
Fig. 2.
Fig. 2.
The degree of patients’ or guardians’ satisfaction with scarring using a 5-point Likert scale in the entire study population (1=very unsatisfied, 2=not satisfied, 3=neutral, 4=satisfied, 5=very satisfied).
Fig. 3.
Fig. 3.
The degree of guardians’ satisfaction with scarring using a 5-point Likert scale in patients under 10 years of age (1=very unsatisfied, 2=not satisfied, 3=neutral, 4=satisfied, 5=very satisfied). *P<0.05.
Fig. 4.
Fig. 4.
The degree of patients’ satisfaction with scarring using the 5-point Likert scale in female patients (1=very unsatisfied, 2=not satisfied, 3=neutral, 4=satisfied, 5=very satisfied). *P<0.05.
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