Public understanding of prolonged ED waiting times

Letters

CJEM 2006;8(2):78-79

To the editor: Physicians and health care leaders struggle with the growing problem of emergency department (ED) waiting times,¹ but little is known about the public understanding of these waits. We conducted a waiting room survey to assess public perceptions regarding the causes of prolonged ED waiting times at Lions Gate Hospital, a 240-bed community hospital and trauma centre in North Vancouver, BC, that has 45 000 ED visits per annum.

A trained surveyor (K.S.) invited patients and families in the ED waiting room to respond to the question, "What do you feel is most responsible for the long wait to be treated in the ED?" There were a total of 201 responses from patients who waited between 0.5 to 12.5 hours. The most common response was "Not enough doctors working" (n = 61; 30%). Other responses included: "Too few hospital beds, resulting in a back-up of admitted patients in the ED" (n = 34; 17%); "Not enough nurses working" (n = 30; 15%); "The ED is too small" (n = 26; 13%); "Too many people come to the ED for minor problems" (n = 24; 12%); "the ED is not operating efficiently" (n = 22; 11%); and "Other" (n = 4; 2%).

The causes of prolonged ED waiting times have been well described, and the Joint Position Statement by the Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians and the National Emergency Nurses Affiliation on overcrowding identifies the core issue as poor access to inpatient hospital beds,^2,3 yet only 17% of respondents cited this as a cause. This suggests that an overwhelming majority of patients and their families are not aware of the true causes of prolonged ED waits. As we develop and promote solutions to ED overcrowding, it would seem prudent to include measures that will increase public education and awareness.

Elaine Willman, MD
2005 Medical Graduate
University of British Columbia
Vancouver, BC

Kevin Simonetto
Student, Sciences
Simon Fraser University
Burnaby, BC

Gary Andolfatto, MD
Deputy Department Head
Lions Gate Hospital
North Vancouver, BC