Have ya'll forgot me out here?

[BostonTerrierLover, BSN, RN]

I get tickled* now working at my small town county hospital when non-acute patients with three day old colds (that they got tired of at 3:32am) come in at the same time we are waiting on the chopper for a AAA, and stick there head through the doors and say:

". . . Hey, did ya'll forget about me out here?"

Now, I'll say some internal roughages and want to press that button Dr. Evil had, but the patient gets cared for the best we can, AS SOON AS WE CAN.

*Now the reason I get tickled is because the worse case scenario, they will wait one to two hours, and get seen, taken care of, and discharged. I though that was the way ERs across America were back then (Boy was I naive), and I think a bunch more nurses would be surprised if they knew what the waiting times were in larger City ERs, and other areas.

When I went to the DFW area on Travel Assignment, I WAS BLOWN AWAY. Patients could wait up to 10-16 hours after a triage. Some of the longer wait times were for even more elevated acuities, but no where near life threatening.

Coming in Via EMS wasn't the answer either there, as it is here, because once again, the way it worked, they were triaged, and sent to wait. So they just came in on a very expensive ride (which I am not naive to think they pay for it anyway).

What would you guess is the AVERAGE wait time at your ER for non-acute patients?

(Even if you have a fastrack).

[EDRN10]

I would say our average wait time is 60minutes or less. Worst I have seen at our ED is 30 people waiting in the lobby with the longest wait time being around 4-5hr mark. We average right around 180-225 pts a day. Really busy days for us is 275+ patients. Primary reason we achieve such a fast turn around is nearly all of our MD's are paid by the patient. So seeing more patients means more money for them.

[hiddencatRN, BSN, RN]

We send EMS patients to triage all the time if they don't need to be placed in a room right away. The only time they'd necessarily go straight to a room is if we're otherwise empty.

But yeah, I get annoyed with those questions too. Mostly because I can't respond in a way I'd like to respond (usually along the lines of them not having a condition worthy of the ER and perhaps they should contact their PCP next time if they don't like waits).

1-2 hour waits are nothing. We don't get waits in the 10-16 hour range (that's crazy, why don't folks just leave at that point?) but we have occasions where a level 5 will wait 6 hours before being seen.

[BostonTerrierLover, BSN, RN]

I AM STILL AMAZED THEY WAIT, but one of the nurses there did tell me I would be surprised. That out of the waiting, most just wanted a roof for the night, and it gave them a chance to get a refill, or get an infection seen to. But I believe it. The whole waiting area was filled every night, there are always people sitting on the floor, or on the window ledges, or outside smoking!!!!

IT WAS A SIGHT!!!!

I have seen people waiting when I go on shift on the floor against a wall, and come off, and they finally got a chair up closer to the secodary triage area by the metal detectors.

[Hagabel]

Wow..16 hrs!!!!

When I was in the US I guess the longest wait time was 2-4 hrs. Here we see 180-205 pts per night and our wait times can be as long as 4-5 hrs for 4-5's.

[Lunah, MSN, RN]

16 hours is still faster than the two weeks it would take for them to get an appointment with their primary care providers. Hahaha. I think the longest wait I've seen in my ER is about 6 hours for 4s or 5s. Sometimes we have 3s who wait for four hours, but that's what happens when you attempt to push 140+ patients through 11 beds (15 beds when Fast Track is open). Extreme volume = higher wait times = more LWOBS.

[VICEDRN, BSN, RN]

Boston-

You and me have the same story. I started at a country hospital and transferred to a level one trauma center in the big city in the Southeast.

At my country hospital..all urgent care patients are seen and d/ced in 90 minutes or less as a general goal and they usually meet it. All other patients are typically seen and d/ced in 4-6 hours. There is hardly ever a wait in the waiting room.

In my trauma center, the time (according to data gathered by the MDs) a patient spends in our er is 9.5 hours while the average wait is 8.76 hours. (Keep in mind that average visit times are influenced by time of day, day of week, type of complaint, elopements, AMAs, LWBS, etc so its low at 9.5 hours). Yesterday, I took a patient to the floor who had been in the ER 21 hours and never held for a bed.

The longest waits I have seen on the board are 15 hours. (yes I said fifteen hours). There were probably 100 people in the waiting room at that time waiting to be seen.

It took me a long time to get used to that. My country hospital almost never had people in the waiting room. Triage times were under ten minutes. Yesterday, it was taking 2 hours to triage people because they just kept coming in.

Where we differ is that I am shocked that urgent care patients that are seen in the trauma center can't understand why it takes so long. I don't know how many times I have said, "You do realize that this is where they bring the sickest patients in the northern half of our state right?"

[Epic_RN]

Not sure what our average is, but I know that I've waited over 6 hours with one of my kids at our ER (possible appy). At our county hospital/trauma center I waited 17 hours with a possible spine fracture (post MVA) after triage. I know patients that have spent 4+ hours just in fast track....