The purpose of the investigation was to identify and analyze problems and attitudes which may contribute to the perceived quality of health care in the emergency room. To assess the extent of these problems a 51-item questionnaire was administered in the emergency rooms of two major hospitals. Questionnaires were distributed to Physicians, Nurses, Technicians, and Patients. Results revealed significant differences between patients and staff attitudes toward the emergency status of most patients, the types of illnesses appropriate to the emergency room, treatment for belligerents (in no serious danger), special training of M.D.'s for emergency room duty, the types of patients treated as teaching cases, the major causes of waiting time, types of patients who receive the most and least time in actual treatments, waiting time for various services, types of patients who receive the most and least care, and time spent in treatment and its association with quality of care. Similarities in patient and staff attitudes were found in attitudes towards sources of referral, availability of personal physician, appropriate patient behavior at various stages of diagnosis and/or care, role of the receptionist, ordering of treatment as a function of urgency of the illness, role of communication between doctor and patient, acceptable waiting time before seeing physician, costs associated with care, evaluation of care provided by physicians and nurses, and reimbursement of costs as a function of source of payment.