Press Ganey LOS Study, Part 2

From the Des Moines Register:

Hospital patients in Iowa spend less time in emergency departments than patients in any other state — and more than 2 1/2 hours less than patients in Arizona, a report shows.

State and national health officials cite several factors for Iowa's top rating, pointing out that many of the state's 117 hospitals are in less-populated rural areas, and that the state's hospital occupancy rates are lower than the national average.

Iowans spend an average of two hours and 18 minutes in hospital emergency rooms, compared with the national average of three hours and 42 minutes, the report says. In Arizona, which ranked last, patients spend an average of almost five hours in the emergency department.

But the report's findings are important to Iowans for more than promotional reasons, experts say. Studies have shown that patient satisfaction is tied directly to how long people spend in the emergency room. And the more efficient an emergency department is, the fewer the mistakes.

"You want people to go where they're supposed to go in the most efficient manner possible," said Glenn Hamilton of Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, who is past president of the Society of Academic Emergency Medicine. "It's not just a satisfaction issue. It's a safety issue."