Sometimes the most painful part about going to the emergency room (ER) is the wait time. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the average hospital ER wait time to see a physician is nearly 56 minutes.
Knowing where to go and how long the wait time in the ER is now as simple as point and click. Des Peres Hospital recently introduced a new way for patients to find out ER wait times, before they ever leave the house.
Before heading to the ER, residents can now access the hospital’s website homepage (www.despereshospital.com) and check out the average door-to-bed wait time.
Door-to-bed wait time is the average time a patient waits to be
escorted to a bed from the time they arrive in the ER. The time is tracked using a statistical tracker system that transfers data to an RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed. The feed automatically displays and updates the time online. Wait times reflect a rolling two-hour average and are updated every five minutes. Patients are seen in priority order based on the type
and severity of their medical complaint.
“We know that every minute matters when you are ill or have a minor injury,” says Kathleen Waeckerle, RN, interim director of emergency medicine at Des Peres Hospital. “Our teams work hard to ensure that patients receive prompt attention and now our community will know just how long the average wait time to a room is before they ever leave the house.”
The technology is designed for patients with relatively minor medical conditions. Patients with potentially life-threatening health problems should call 9-1-1 so they can receive life-saving measures in the ambulance on the way to the hospital. Patients with medical emergencies, such as heart attack, stroke or traumatic injuries, are always seen immediately.
Marcus Teng, D.O., emergency medicine director at Des Peres Hospital says the technology helps patients and the hospital address one of the most common complaints about emergency departments – long wait times. “A trip to the ER is something most people never want to have to face,” says Dr. Teng.
“But for patients with non-life-threatening conditions, knowing what they can expect in terms of wait time in the ER before they leave for the hospital can make their visit less stressful.”