Summary

Impact of emergency departments in the mass media

Requena J

Affiliation of the authors

Emergency Department, Pius Hospital de Valls. Tarragona, Spain.

DOI

Quote

Requena J. Impact of emergency departments in the mass media. Emergencias. 2008;20:187-90

Summary

Aims: To assess the views of physicians who work in emergency departments (EDs) on

the image projected by the EDs in the mass media as well as the mediatic possibilities

of these EDs.

Methods: Questionnaire given to 140 physicians in charge of Spanish EDs with different

levels of complexity.

Results: Fifty nine ED physicians responded 88% of whom had appeared in some type

8 mass media. The news was positive in 52% of cases, negative in 25% and neutral in

23%. 87% of the news appeared in local; 63% in regional and 13% in national. As

compared to positive news that of negative connotation had the highest probability of

appearing in national mass media (p < 0.001). Forty-me percent of the responders reported that positive news should appear in the mass media while 27% considered that news should appear independently of the connotation and 32% stated that ED should never appear in the news. Seventy-three percent of ED take part in activities of social projection and this attitude reduced the possibilitiy of being a source of negative news (p < 0.05). Most of the ED physicians who responded to the survey were trained in communication skills or recognised their importance. They believed that the ED was or could be a potential source of positive news and also that their hospital had adequate structures to establish a good dialogue with the mass media. Conclusions: EDs are often a source of positive news; this good image may be increased using strategies to this end. Most of the physicians surveyed thought that the good image of the EDs could be further improved.

 

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