Why Are the Waiting Times in Public Hospital Emergency Departments so Long? What Contributes to This? What Are We Doing Too Address This Problem?

looking at mortality rates in patients seeking emergency care conclude that the rate of death is substantially higher during times of crowding (Richardson, 2006, p. 213).

A visit to the emergency department (ED) is usually associated with negative thoughts by most people. It creates preconceived images of overcrowded waiting rooms and routine long waits for treatment (Jarousse, 2011). From 1996 to 2006, ED visits increased annually from 90.3 million to 119.2 million (32% increase). During this same time period, the number of EDs has declined by 186 facilities creating the age old lower supply and greater demand concept (Crane & Noon, 2011). There are many contributing factors that have led to an increase in ED visits. A few of these key drivers include lack of primary care access, rising of the uninsured population, dwindling mental health services, and the growing elderly

The study revealed several issues in this department. Voluntary emergency patients have to wait extended periods of time before being transferred to the appropriate department. The majority of those who have to wait are those seeking mental health assistance. Keeping people in the emergency department longer than necessary cause operational costs skyrocket, and worse, keeps the needs of patients from properly being met.

One of the contributors to the rising cost of Healthcare can be attributed to the over use of emergency departments (EDs) for non-emergency needs. In the greater Capitol/First/Beacon Hill area there are three major hospitals (Virginia Mason, Harborview, and Swedish) with emergency rooms and no urgent care centers with the exception of Group Health which is restricted to Group Health insurance members.

You will need to determine facility location to transportation, medical providers, dentists, community centers, grocery stories, churches, temples and other places of worship, and distance to emergency rooms; (to save money, a number of hospitals and emergency rooms have closed or are in the process of closing). That extra travel time to an emergency room might make a difference in wait time. Studies reveal that the average wait time in American hospital emergency rooms is approximately 4 hours.

Lengthy time wait can result in an individual becoming more sick, due to the lack of attention they are receiving. In the province of Alberta, a women says “her life is wasting away after a series of miss communication.” Its been almost 10 years, and she still hasn’t received her treatment. As a country viewed as one of the best countries in terms of healthcare, the government fails to provide the citizens with proper care. However, analyzing Canadian wait time from a decade ago to the present day, Canada is ranked number 11 on the lowest wait time according to First minister accord. Canada advance to the top of the ranking by improving on some steps, such as diagnosing problems fast. By diagnosing the problem first, health care worker are able to aid patients to get the best and most efficient health services. Also, the main foundation to a a shorter wait time is the a strong and cooperative staff. With a great staff that are communicating, its easier to get through many patients in a day. (https://secure.cihi.ca/free_products/HCIC2012-FullReport-ENweb.pdf) If majority of our taxes is contributing into healthcare, we should be provided with fast and efficient service. Another alteration with having a lengthy wait is it affects individual who are in need of a

And finally, by increasing funding for doctors, the waiting time in emergency rooms would decrease significantly by enabling the hospital to staff more doctors during the busy hours of the day. It would allow the hospital to staff additional doctors at night as well. These steps have been taken in some hospitals with great success. Hospitals have begun to communicate the expected wait times to their patients, one hospital even goes so far as to post waiting room times on the internet in real time, as of July 20 2007 at 19:31 the wait in the 5 hospitals listed ranged between 0 – 2 hr 40 minutes with the average being about

that it will assist in decreasing costs and will allow more patients to been seen given high quality

The population profile of Australia has created impacting changes to how health care in Australia is to be delivered in the near future (Charlesworth, 2015). High rates of obesity, diabetes, heart diseases and poor life style choices such as smoking, alcohol and substance abuse, add to an existing crisis that imposes more pressure on an overworked healthcare system (Willcox, 2014).

The increase in the emergency department visits is attributed to overall population growth, a decrease in the number of available emergency departments, increases in the number of older Americans, constrained capacity in other outpatient settings, and increasing number of uninsured. (Sultz and Young 2011)

Taking stress off of the doctors and medical staff to allow them to see more patients

Unfortunately, this is an ongoing problem that has yet to be completely fixed. Take into consideration that not every hospital has the resources to build and add beds it is not only adding beds, it is also adding jobs, and then staff must be hired to work the additional beds. So, everything ties into money, so people seeking medical attention in emergency rooms need to be seeking attention only for emergencies, not for care that can be addressed by their primary care, or an urgent care facility. These wait times might not be fixed right away, but they are being worked on, and hopefully a solution will be found that will reduce the wait times in emergency departments all over. I feel the continuing research and patient surveys, more and more solutions can be found and implemented like the RA (Rapid Assessment) and Fast Track areas being used in many hospitals to cut back on wait times and improve quality care, and patient satisfaction. With the rise of patients seeking medical treatment in the Emergency Department in many hospitals, the volumes are going to continue to increase. However, with areas like Fast Track, and systems like the Rapid Assessment, patients with lower acuities will get treated quicker and this will continue to cut down on wait times and free up beds for true emergencies. Having seen all the factors and how they play a part in the increased wait times, I feel that

Waiting lists limit health care treatment instead of charges, in the UK people pay for health care by having to que. Across the world queuing is a challenge for health care services. Research has been carried out on how to improve queuing systems in various settings. A key element of the delivery of health care is providing patients with timely access to suitable medical care and improving patient’s satisfaction. ‘When’ care is received, is frequently as significant as ‘what’ care is obtained. Patients who experience long waiting times are usually dissatisfied and experience bad effects as an outcome (French, 2016: 220; Wolper, 2011: 348).

ER. The increased wait time affected the quality of care and disposition of many of the patients seen in the ER. This was particularly so with those patients presenting with chest pain as these patients were being subjected to extremely long wait times. These prolonged wait times for this category of patients were producing increased adverse outcomes as well as violating standardized goals for the organization. Problem solving steps as elucidated below were taken by this organization in the management of this issue.

Patient gratification is a significant measure of emergency department quality of care. Little is identified about the providers ' ability to evaluate the patients’ satisfaction. Patients want to be provided with an estimated wait time. The wait time provides them with baseline information about what they can expect.