Average ER Wait Time Increases To 1 Hour

In Last Ten Years Time Has Increased 32 Percent Because Of More Visits To Emergency Room

(AP)  The average time that hospital emergency rooms patients wait to see a doctor has grown from about 38 minutes to almost an hour over the past decade, according to new federal statistics released Wednesday.

The increase is due to supply and demand, said Dr. Stephen Pitts, the lead author of the report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"There are more people arriving at the ERs. And there are fewer ERs," said Pitts, an associate professor of emergency medicine at Atlanta's Emory University.

Overall, about 119 million visits were made to U.S. emergency rooms in 2006, up from 90 million in 1996 - a 32 percent increase.

Meanwhile, the number of hospital emergency departments dropped to fewer than 4,600, from nearly 4,900, according to American Hospital Association statistics.

Another reason for crowding is patients who are admitted to the hospital end up waiting in the ER because of the limited number of hospital beds, Pitts added.

A shortage of surgical specialists also contributes. So, too, does the difficulty many patients have in getting appointments to doctor's offices - which causes some to turn to emergency departments, experts said.

"It takes me a month to get an appointment for my own doctor, and I'm a physician, for God's sake," said Dr. Ricardo Martinez, an Atlanta trauma physician. He is executive vice president of Schumacher Group, an organization that manages about 140 hospital emergency departments.

The amount of time a patient waited before seeing a physician in an ER has been rising steadily, from 38 minutes in 1997, to 47 minutes in 2004, to 56 minutes in 2006.

Pitts added that 56 minutes may be the average, but it's not typical: The average was skewed to nearly an hour because of some very long waits.

"Half of people had waiting times of 31 minutes or less," Pitts noted.

Researchers also found that there has not been any recent increases in the number of patients arriving by ambulance, or in the number of cases considered to be true emergencies.

Black patients visited emergency departments at twice the rate as whites in 2006. Among age groups, the highest visitation rates were for infants and elderly people aged 75 and older.

About 40 percent of ER patients had private insurance, about 25 percent were covered by state programs for children and about 17 percent were covered by Medicare, the report found. About 17 percent were uninsured.

Some more findings: Summer and winter were the busiest season in ERs, and the early evening - around 7 p.m. - tended to be the busiest time of day. There were geographic differences as well, with hospitals in the South having the highest ER visitation rates.

Also, half of hospital admissions in 2006 came through emergency departments, up from 36 percent in 1996.

"The ER has become the front door to the hospital," said Pitts, a fellow at the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics.

Some doctors said the report supports a call for increased governmental funding for hospital emergency services.

"Millions more people each year are seeking emergency care, but emergency departments are continuing to close, often because so much care goes uncompensated," Dr. Linda Lawrence, president of the American College of Emergency Physicians, said in a statement.

"This report is very troubling, because it shows that care is being delayed for everyone, including people in pain and with heart attacks," her statement added.

The results are based on a national survey of 362 hospital emergency departments.

[eggy1620]

The lesson here is do not go to the ER. Go to an urgent care center. If you want to be seen quickly in an ER, then call an ambulance. If your condition is not life threatening, it can wait until an urgent care center is open.

[katherinegil]

It''s 3:00 a.m., and this will be my last comment. This is particularly for Dinky Dog. You have no idea what you are talking about. That''s because you have never been in a Toronto hospital. The wait times in our hospitals are not exaggerated! I have been in emerg for myself and my mother. It is not unusual to go home seven or more hours after you have arrived.

Don''t complain about your one hour wait time - it''s a drop in the bucket.

[katherinegil]

I live in Toronto, Canada. The last time I went to the ER, I was there for six to seven hours!! This is not hype. People ahead of me had been waiting from
6:00 p.m., and it was now way after midnight.

My understanding is that we only have one doctor in emerg.

[sebastian27-2009]

Unless you have a true emergency (heart attack, broken back etc)you would be forturnate to see a ER doctor in an hour on a weekend in our town. It is not unusual to be in the ER for 3 to 5 hours on busy nights.
There are several problems, including not enough doctors who will go to the hospital at night (so much for duty and compassion.)The hospitals won''t pay them for calls and so many of the patients are uninsured.
The answer to the problem is the old story of supply and demand. We need more doctors. And the only solution is more medical schools, and the only source left for the money is good old Uncle Sam. Lets take some of the money that we are wasting in Iraq, Afganistan, and other sink holes and build up our educational institutions and infrastructures.

[dinkydog1]

Longer wait times and rationing are unfortunately a by-product of the Canadian socialist healthcare system.


Posted by rational_1 at 11:26 AM : Aug 07, 2008

........................

Long waits although greatly exagerated are more likley due to the fact that Canadians spend only a fraction per capita of what Americans do and not "socialism".

[citizenusa-2009]

The anti Canadian health comments are B.S. I''ve not met one Canadian who does not prefer theirs to ours.

[citizenusa-2009]

By the way, insurance or no insurance. The wait time in OH is the same. I''ve witnessed both situations and have even seen someone actually pass out in the waiting room while the nurses are talking about their "weekend plans".

[citizenusa-2009]

By the way "illegal aliens" are not a problem in the backward State of Ohio...it''s the apathy and distain that our hospitals exude. They simply have a superior attitude and the "peons" in the ER are simply whiners. Trust me, our Emergency Rooms are NOT a place you want to visit if you need medical attention. You are much better off calling 911 so they can alert the medical staff that a you are on the way. A one hour wait would be a dream here. 3 hours minimum. It''s a sick joke. (excuse the pun)

[jjp735i]

This one hour wait is for those with insurance. It''s a much longer wait when you don''t have any.

[neenga]

Where can you get attention in an ER in less than an hour? What a joke! It''s usually two hours or more. And that just gets you a bed, where you wait another hour or two.