Effect of Queue Management System on Patient Satisfaction in Emergency Department; a Randomized Controlled Trial

Patients’ experience in hospitals affects their satisfaction. The purpose of the present study wasto assess the effect of applying a queue management system on patient satisfaction in emergency departmentwaiting rooms.

The present prospective randomized single-blinded interventional study was per-formed from July to August 2020 and involved 236 patients that were divided into one intervention group andone control group, each consisting of 118 patients. The mentioned patients’ perception of the waiting timeand satisfaction before being visited by an emergency medicine doctor was evaluated with and without apply-ing the queue management system.

The mean actual waiting time (15.5 ± 7.5 minutes) as well as themean perceived waiting time (11.9 ± 7.4 minutes) for the intervention group were significantly lower than thoseof the control group with the values of 27.03 ± 8.5 and 32.8 ± 8.7 minutes, respectively (p < 0.001). The meanperceived waiting time was significantly less than the mean actual waiting time (11.9 min vs 15.5 minutes) forthe intervention group (p <0.001); however, the mean perceived waiting time was significantly higher than themean actual waiting time (32.8 vs 27.03 minutes) for the control group (p < 0.001). The level of satisfaction inthe intervention group was significantly higher than that of the control group (p <0.001). There was an inverserelationship between the actual waiting time (Intervention group: r=-0.463; Control group: r= -0.567) and theperceived waiting time (Intervention group: r= -0.439; Control group: r= -0.568) with the satisfaction level inboth groups (p < 0.001).

It can be proposed that the application of a queue management system inthe emergency department waiting rooms can reduce the actual and perceived waiting times and increase thepatient satisfaction.