DEL.ICIO.USHEALTH NEWS
Average ER waiting time nears 1 hour, CDC saysAssociated Press
Published on: 08/06/08
Atlanta — 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.
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"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 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.
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 times in ERs. And 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.
The results are based on a national survey of 362 hospital emergency departments.
On the Net:
The CDC report: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs
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Comments
By Missing piece
Aug 23, 2008 12:10 PM | Link to this
Lest you forget, "the uninsured" also includes those of us who recently finished graduate school or college and have to work as temps because in this economy so many employers prefer throw-away employees who get no benefits and who can be fired with no notice and no severance pay.
By MomOf2
Aug 7, 2008 12:22 PM | Link to this
I went to the ER recently (bleeding) and waited 6 hours just to get a bed. Once in the exam room, it took another 2 hours to see the doctor. I was bleeding, and not even a NURSE came in to check on me. Talk about scared and p.o.'d! I kept sticking my head out of the door to look for a nurse, and the entire nurses station was EMPTY. I think they had all gone to dinner at the same time. I rang for a nurse with my call button...nothing. No response. Thank God I had someone with me to help calm me down. Once the doctor came in and examined me (2 1/2 hours more later), I was misdiagnosed with cystitis. (No tests other than uninalysis.) I immediately went from this hospital to another ER (and another wait) got a CAT scam, and discovered I had a rather large KIDNEY STONE. The meds the 1st doctor gave me would have had NO effect on this condition. I'm just glad I had the wits (and excruciating pain) about me to go somewhere else. Who is training these so-called "doctors"? They must be training here in Georgia. This is the only state where I have encountered so many clueless physicians.
By Beth
Aug 6, 2008 11:30 PM | Link to this
I rarely have to wait out in the waiting room -- they take me right back when I come, in general, and I'm seeing a doctor within 30 minutes or so. Then again, I'm generally presenting with something I'll probably get admitted for when I do go (related to a chronic illness), so yeah, it's truly the EMERGENCY room for me.
I'm sympathetic to those who use the ER as their clinic -- for a while I had no insurance myself - but it does back things up for people who are hurt/super ill but not critical. :(
By deegee
Aug 6, 2008 7:08 PM | Link to this
Not so fast, Arlo. The 17% uninsured includes the 18 - 35 year old unemployed drug addicts that wind up in the emergency rooms after overdosing. You think that never happens?
By Arlo
Aug 6, 2008 4:48 PM | Link to this
There will always be a wait at the emergency room, but don't be fooled by the numbers. The 17% (almost 1 in 5) that are uninsured (double talk for illegal aliens) are taking up hospital staff time in translating their medical condition & history from spanish. While you're bleeding, Jose' is trying to explain how his nose is running & that he has a cough.
By deegee
Aug 6, 2008 4:28 PM | Link to this
Yeah right, Buti. Thank goodness that Alpharetta and Dunwoody are overrun with the foreign doctors that are working in the ER rooms. Otherwise you and your screaming white baby would be waiting twice as long to see a doctor.
By Reality
Aug 6, 2008 4:20 PM | Link to this
Can we discuss any topics on these blogs without descending into we/they us/them replete with superior attitudes. Gee, it must be awfully hard and scary being white and southern these days.
By deegee
Aug 6, 2008 4:20 PM | Link to this
If you think that this is going to get better as the population ages then think again. You could deny ER treatment to all illegal aliens but you are still going to have to wait behind old folks.
"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."
By Jon
Aug 6, 2008 4:17 PM | Link to this
One hour? I would have given my right arm for it to have only been one hour the last time I visited an emergency room with a family member. Three years ago, my wife spent eight hours waiting in the emergency room at Cobb General in agonizing pain and bleeding out of one ear from a pressure injury. The doctor that saw us spent about 30 seconds looking at her ear, said something to the effect of "yep, that's blood all right", and sent her home with a scrip for ten Percocet, a four-figure bill, and a referral to an ENT specialist. Ridiculous.
Our healthcare system is horribly, horribly broken.
By Susan
Aug 6, 2008 4:16 PM | Link to this
Well said, Larry Flynt!
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