Abstract

Privacy and confidentiality are central components of patient care and are of particular importance in obstetrics and gynaecology, where sensitive clinical situations regularly occur. The layout of the emergency department (ED) in maternity units is often not conducive to maintaining privacy. Our study aimed to discover if changing the environment could improve women’s experiences in the ED. We surveyed patients and asked specific questions about their perception of privacy in the ED. We then repeated the survey following renovations to the ED which involved replacing curtained patient areas with walled cubicles. There were 75 pre-renovation surveys and 82 post-renovation surveys completed. Before the renovations took place, only 21% of women found their privacy to be adequate during their visit to the ED. However, this rose to 89% of women post-renovation. Our study showed that women’s perception of privacy and confidentiality significantly improved following refurbishment of the ED.