Authors (including presenting author) :
LEUNG MPS LAI PY LO KC
Affiliation :
Accident and Emergency Department, Princess Margaret Hospital
Introduction :
The Accident and Emergency Department (A&E) at Princess Margaret Hospital faces significant challenges in managing patient expectations and communication, particularly regarding waiting times and treatment processes. A recurring issue has been the rising incidents of patient dissatisfaction and conflicts, often stemming from misunderstandings about A&E operations and waiting times. These situations not only affect patient experience but also impact staff morale and departmental efficiency. In response to these challenges, our department initiated a comprehensive quality improvement project centered around an educational video intervention. This innovative approach aims to bridge the communication gap between healthcare providers and patients by providing a clear, consistent, and accessible explanation of the A&E patient journey.
Objectives :
Our first objective was to enhance patient understanding of the complete A&E journey, from registration through discharge, using visual storytelling that would be accessible to all demographics. The second objective focused on conflict prevention and operational efficiency. By providing consistent, standardized information about departmental workflows through the video program, we aimed to reduce the frequency of confrontational situations between patients and staff. Our third objective was to establish measurable quality improvement metrics to evaluate the effectiveness of this intervention. We sought to quantify improvements in patient understanding, satisfaction levels, and complaint rates through structured surveys and data collection.
Methodology :
The development and implementation of our educational video followed a systematic five aspects of the A&E journey: registration process, triage system, consultation procedures, treatment protocols, and discharge/admission processes. A multidisciplinary working group was established in the pre-production planning phase, comprising emergency physicians, nurses, patient care assistants, and administrative staff. Through multiple focus group discussions, we identified key areas that required detailed explanations and developed a comprehensive storyboard. The script was carefully crafted in both English and Chinese to ensure accessibility to our diverse patient population. The quality assurance process involved extensive review by multiple stakeholders with special consideration for cultural issues, including senior management, frontline staff, patient groups, and corporates communication experts.
Result & Outcome :
To evaluate the effectiveness of this intervention, we designed a comprehensive survey that assessed patient understanding before and after viewing the video. This evaluation tool helped measure the impact of our visual communication strategy and provided valuable data for future improvements. The implementation of our video education initiative yielded remarkable improvements in patient understanding across all aspects of A&E operations. Our survey achieved a high response rate of 92%. The most significant improvements were observed in patients' understanding of the consultation and treatment processes, with comprehension rates increasing from 25% to 75% after viewing the video. Overall service process understanding demonstrated a transformative improvement. Particularly encouraging was the complete elimination of responses indicating "didn't understand at all,". This indicates that our video education strategy is a success showcase.
