get ER wait times on your phone ?

cherrybreeze, ADN, RN · Aug 1, 2011

Ok so if a hospital can see people in about 30mins WHY are all hospitals not at there door to find out how thay are doing it ?

It's not something that easily controlled. If all ER's were utilized how they were meant to be, 30 minutes would be an easier accommodation. When you have a dozen (or dozens of) people show up for stupid things like preg tests, colds, sports physicals, to get doctor's notes because they missed work....it makes it very difficult to consistently estimate wait time.

I tend to agree but also can see situations where something is ER worthy but doesn't nesesitate sitting for 4 hours waiting to be seen.

I disagree. If you truly need to be seen emergently, wait time becomes irrelevant. If you can decide if you need treatment based on how long receiving that treatment will take, then you really don't need it at all...at least not in the ER. Call your PCP and make an appointment. The definition of emergency treatment, technically, means that the lack of receiving treatment is a threat to life or limb. Obviously those patients will be seen first. I'm not saying that if I had severe pain due to a kidney stone, for example, I WOULDN'T go to the ER, but I know that I may have to wait. If I find out that the wait time will be four hours, so I decide to just stay home and suck it up, then I could have stayed home and sucked it up no matter what.

I find this whole trend of "be seen in thirty minutes or less" to be disturbing. I think it encourages people to use the ER needlessly, which drives up the cost of healthcare for everybody. If someone has a sore throat, say, and know they will be seen in 30 minutes at the ER as opposed to *gasp*, heaven forbid, having to wait until the next day to see their PCP, they'll go to the ER (since our culture is one of immediate gratification, "I WANT MY PROBLEM FIXED NOW!!"). So, you then have more people running to the ER for every little thing, which, guess what.....makes the wait time longer. Go figure.

Guest219794 · Aug 3, 2011

It's about market share- plain and simple.

I doubt tha many hospitals that are isolated- people have no choice of where to go- advertise waiting times. Why bother?

I worked in a place that advertised waiting times. It had to do with the forst contact with a provider. Providers would often walk by, introduce themselves, and move on.