title: Examine your emergency department, stat! ED is key to hospital reputation.
abstract: Hospitals say meeting patient expectations in the emergency department (ED) is key to survival. The best indicator of patient satisfaction in the ED is waiting times, which seem to matter more to some patients than clinical expertise. Few national standards on emergency waiting times exist; your best bet for benchmarking is to identify better performers such as the hospitals in this special report.
mesh_terms: D019985:Benchmarking; D017598:Efficiency, Organizational; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D019370:Observation; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D019984:Quality Indicators, Health Care; D017748:Time Management; D014481:United States; D014850:Waiting Lists