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Posted Emergency Department Wait Times Are Not Always Accurate
Author(s) -
Jouriles Nicholas,
Simon Erin L.,
Griffin Peter,
Williams Carolyn Jo,
Haller Nairmeen Awad
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
academic emergency medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.221
H-Index - 124
eISSN - 1553-2712
pISSN - 1069-6563
DOI - 10.1111/acem.12107
Subject(s) - emergency department , medicine , post hoc analysis , significant difference , analysis of variance , post hoc , emergency medicine , psychiatry
Objectives Hospitals around the United States are advertising emergency department ( ED ) wait times. The objective was to measure the difference between publicly posted and actual ED wait times and to compare these between ED site volumes. Methods This study was a retrospective consecutive sample of ED patients at one hospital system with four ED s. The wait times of 8,889 patients were included in this analysis. One ED was in a large teaching hospital with 5,000 ED patients per month; the other three were freestanding or community ED s without teaching and with fewer than 2,000 ED patients per month each. The publicly posted ED wait times at the time of patient arrival were recorded and compared to the actual wait times as retrieved from the ED tracking system. The difference between posted and actual wait times for each site was calculated. Separate one‐way analysis of variance ( ANOVA ) tests with post hoc testing were conducted to assess actual wait time and wait time difference between ED sites. Results Mean and standard deviation ( SD ) wait time difference at the main ED with a volume of 5,000 patients per month was 31.5 (±61.2) minutes. At the facilities with fewer than 2,000 ED patients per month each, the differences in wait times were 4.2 (±21.8), 8.6 (±23.8), and 1.3 (±11.9) minutes. ANOVA results revealed that the main ED had significantly different actual wait time and wait time differences (p < 0.05) when compared to the other three ED s. Conclusions In one hospital system, publicly posted ED wait times show better accuracy in ED s that see 2,000 or fewer patients per month and less accuracy for an ED that sees 5,000 patients per month, likely due to flow confounders.