"It's been 2 HOURS!"

Specialties Emergency

Published

Specializes in Med-Surg, Emergency, CEN.

I got so tired of this that I have started telling everyone that walks in...

"Ok, I like to let everyone know right up front that you will be here for around __ hours or more. I can lie to you if you want and say 30 minutes, but it is what it is. So if you have a cell phone or tablet or something, go right ahead and use it. I'll do my very best for you, but like I said, it will be hours."

I have to tell you, it completely works on 95% of my patients! I almost never get the whiny complaints anymore!

Aaahh.. life is a little better. :)

This is the states im assuming!? lol 30min and your seen?? wow!!

Average wait time for us is 4 hours. Your lucky if you even get in to be seen when you first register with triage (if its serious you will, if you have a DVT you can wait up to an hour if your showing no distress symptoms). I'm in Canada tho and are wait time are known to be extensive and LONG. Our provinces are trying to change that but is has been a battle. I know this from personal experience and from what all my patients tell me.

Woops!! Reread your post. Out of curiosity what is your average wait time? Is it 2 hours? Sorry for showing my ignorance with this but I have never recieved medical care in the states and I heard if you have insurance your treated like the queen.

Woops!! Reread your post. Out of curiosity what is your average wait time? Is it 2 hours? Sorry for showing my ignorance with this but I have never recieved medical care in the states and I heard if you have insurance your treated like the queen.

Insurance is irrelevant to the treatment you receive in the ER.

We don't have a queen.

Again please forgive my ignorance. Makes sense! However if pt didn't have insurance do they still get treated? Or is it a hassle when they have to leave the hospital and pay?

In the States, we have a federal law called EMTALA, also known as the "anti dumping law". EMTALA = Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act.

In a nutshell, it means that EDs that receive federal funds are required to provide a medical screening exam and stabilizing treatment to anyone who presents to that ED regardless of their ability to pay.

Wait times will vary from ED to ED, depending on a lot of factors, like size, urban vs. rural, average daily census, etc. I've heard of some EDs in big cities like New York, Detroit, Chicago, etc., where wait times can be upwards of 24 hours, while in a small community ED, wait times can be less than five minutes depending on how busy they are. Here's a link to a CDC web page on the subject:

http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db102.htm

To the OP: It's true that communicating what the patient can expect as far as time frames does tend to reduce the amount of questions for the most part! I like to use a window of time rather than anything specific, and I tend to overestimate. This way, if a lab comes back sooner or a test doesn't take as long as I said it would, it's a pleasant surprise rather than the other way around.

Specializes in Emergency.
This is the states im assuming!? lol 30min and your seen?? wow!!

Average wait time for us is 4 hours. Your lucky if you even get in to be seen when you first register with triage (if its serious you will, if you have a DVT you can wait up to an hour if your showing no distress symptoms). I'm in Canada tho and are wait time are known to be extensive and LONG. Our provinces are trying to change that but is has been a battle. I know this from personal experience and from what all my patients tell me.

I'm curious. Do you work ER? If so, then where? I am a Canadian ER nurse, in the busiest ER in my city, and I can tell you that the days when our way time gets up to four hours are pretty rare, and our wait time is calculated based on CTAS 3 and 4 patients. If you are a 1 you are in a bed immediately. 2s also get seen much faster than our wait time predicts.

If someone is waiting more than 4 hours to be seen they are probably a CTAS 5, and should not have come to the ER in the first place (tiny splinter removal, prescription refill, need a sick note etc.)

I'm curious if this is very different in other parts of the country.

Specializes in Med-Surg, Emergency, CEN.

Nurses and doctors have no idea what insurance you have unless you stand up and say "I have XX insurance and you should treat me better!!" but we still won't treat them better because we hate those types.

Actually, all I have to do is look at the face sheet/demographics sheet, and I know exactly what insurance the person has or doesn't have. It's right there in the chart. But no, it doesn't influence the care I provide.

I have never waited longer than 20mins to be taken through....due to the type of condition I have mostly

It's feast or famine at my ER, either crazy busy or slammed.

If you're going to wait for just a preg test, we're busy, you're going to the back of the line.

2 hours is pretty average for a busy night, stable patient.

Many people elope after 30 minutes.

I see a lot of 'well, my ride is here to get me' I have to go get my kids from school. Why did you come now, for non-emergency, and then get mad at me because your kids need picked up?

+ Add a Comment