In most countries, hospital emergency departments (EDs; also called emergency rooms) are characterized by a large number of patient contacts, high rate of staff turnover, and broad variety of medical problems. These circumstances pose difficulties for ED functioning; indeed, many studies conducted around the world indicate the existence of problems in the provision of services, primarily in patient waiting times for treatment, consultations, and lab tests and test results, and in the provision of explanations to patients regarding their medical problem, treatment, lab test results and instructions for the post-release period at home.In Israel, similar problems were found through studies conducted locally during the past decade, though in recent years, few studies were conducted of Israeli EDs, and the areas examined in the current study were never examined in Israel in multi institutional studies. The current study, conducted in November, 1999, among some 2,500 respondents at 17 hospitals, represents the first attempt to examine the experiences of consumers at EDs in Israel at the national level.
The perspective of health consumers is important to service providers and policymakers as input for improving services. The survey of visitors to EDs was one of a series of consumer surveys conducted in the hospital system by the JDC-Brookdale Institute in cooperation with the Ministry of Health, Clalit Health Services, and all hospitals involved in the project.
Study Goals
1 . To provide hospital managements with comparative data on the experiences of ED visitors, and to assist the managements in improving their services;
2. To provide policymakers with information on the experiences of ED visitors in Israel, and to assist them in identifying issues that must be addressed at the national level;
3. To develop study and monitoring instruments for future use by the hospital system.
Citing suggestion: Berg-Warman, A., Yuval, D., & Goldwag, R (2001). Emergency departments in Israel, 1999: the visitor’s perspective. RR-369-01. JDC-Brookdale Institute. (Hebrew)
