Follow-up Telephone Calls: A Comparative Study of Calls Made Three Days and Ninety Days Post Discharge and Their Effect on Patient Satisfaction and Patient Outcomes

A large number of patients enter hospital Emergency Departments (ED) every day for care. Health care facilities across the country consider their ED to be the front door of the hospital as 60-80 % of admissions enter through these doors. Routinely ED patient satisfaction has been low as more emphasis was placed on the technical skills of staff than on customer relations and outcomes. In the current regulatory and financial environment of health care, hospitals have been forced to change their ED vision to one that focused on a high level of quality care, stellar customer service, and individual case management looking for increased patient satisfaction and positive outcomes to be the result of their efforts. The purpose of this study was to determine if early discharge calls had a direct impact on increased patient satisfaction and outcomes. Th