The study was conducted to address the problem: Is the Emergency Department Consumer Satisfaction Scale (EDCSS) a reliable and valid instrument for measuring consumer satisfaction with emergency department nursing care? The EDCSS was derived from the Risser Patient Satisfaction Scale and input from five content experts.

A methodological approach was used to test the reliability and validity of the EDCSS in four southern communities. Subjects for the study consisted of 97 community persons who had received care in an emergency department and 137 patients who were being discharged from a hospital emergency department. The community sample was obtained from meetings of six community groups in two rural and one metropolitan communities.

The EDCSS was a 29-item Likert-type instrument with responses ranging from completely agree to completely disagree. Responses were subjected to reliability analysis, using Cronbach's alpha coefficient to test for internal consistency, and principal components analysis with rotation to test for construct validity.

Factor analytic procedures failed to support the existence of the three subscales initially conceptualized for the EDCSS. Four factors emerged, which were named Psychological Safety, Discharge Teaching, Information Giving, and Technical Competence.

The EDCSS was revised and renamed the Davis ED Consumer Satisfaction Scale (DECSS). The DECSS demonstrated an alpha coefficient of.92. The Psychological Safety subscale of the DECSS produced a reliability alpha coefficient of.92, while the Discharge Teaching, Information Giving, and Technical Competence subscales demonstrated alpha coefficients of.93,.67, and.75, respectively.

The DECSS, as a total instrument, the Psychological Safety and Discharge Teaching subscales were found to be reliable for measuring consumer satisfaction with emergency department nursing care in the study population. The Information Giving and Technical Competence subscales were also found to be reliable for the study population. Further testing of the DECSS for construct validity is needed. The instrument is acceptable for clinical use.