[Evaluation of a new information tool in an Emergency Department]

Abstract

Aims : emergency Departments represent unique and complex entities that must be understood by the public. Objectives : to increase, by setting up screens, the number of information integrated by the patients during their waiting before medical care. Method : Cohort, before/after implementation of information screens, prospective, evaluative, monocentric study. Patients were interviewed on the location of the hospital, the organization of the Emergency Department, their legal rights. The primary endpoint was the quality of the information received by the patient from arrival until the beginning of medical care. Distributions of the responses were compared between groups using Wilcoxon and Fisher tests. All tests were performed bilaterally at alpha risk of 5 %. Results : 267 questionnaires have been collected ; 128 in the first period, 139 in the second one. The main endpoint was statistically significant (p = 0,049). Knowledge of the type of hosted population (40 % vs 23 %), the notion of property of the medical record (83 % vs 53 %), the identification of the staff (46 % vs 18 %) was significantly increased by watching the screens. Conclusion : this study showed that the screens had a positive impact on the information to the patients and accompanying persons.