Anxiety as a factor influencing satisfaction with emergency department care: perspectives of accompanying persons

Abstract

AIM: To measure levels of anxiety among people accompanying consumers to the emergency department and to explore how anxiety influences satisfaction with care. BACKGROUND: When people seek treatment in an emergency department they are often accompanied by a next-of-kin, family member or friend. While the accompanying person plays a vital role in providing psycho-social support to consumers, little is known about how they perceive the quality of care. Learning more about how accompanying persons perceive care may inform the development of strategies to enhance communication processes between staff, consumers and accompanying persons. DESIGN; A prospective cross-sectional survey design. METHOD..