Emergency rooms are well known for being stress filled, and with the average wait time to see a doctor around an hour according to a 2008 National Health Statistics Report, it is no surprise that patients suffering from any kind of symptoms find the wait difficult. Easing patient tension is a common concern for any hospital executive and one method of reducing this is through posting wait times online.
Hospital executives throughout the country have recently begun posting emergency room wait times online. Some hospitals calculate wait times reflective of a rolling two-hour average, and continually update every five minutes. These tools are aimed at helping patients with minor symptoms discern whether they need to make the trip to the ER. This, in effect, unburdens the emergency room from "routine" visits and allows more time to see urgent care patients.
From 1996 to 2006 hospital emergency department visits have increased 32% and with a conservatively estimated 9 million more patients soon to be flooding emergency rooms in the coming years due to national healthcare passage, telling patients how long to expect can facilitate the transition. This rise in ER visits is in part due to the decreasing number of emergency departments across the nation. The results have already been seen, but we can expect more hallway boarding, more crowding and increased patient stress.
One area where this online tool might be of the most help is in the South. A 2006 National Health Statistics Reports showed that the Southern states have the greatest number of emergency department visits. Developing emergency department space in this region could help ease patient stress now, and more importantly in the future when emergency departments will be especially overburdened.
By informing patients how long they can expect to wait, patients may better gauge if they need to act now, or if their symptoms can wait. Implementing simple technological advancements can reduce patient stress and increase physician efficiency.
James Ellis, CEO, Health Care Realty Development Company, is a nationally recognized successful real estate investor and developer of medical office properties with a comprehensive knowledge of sophisticated real estate transactions, cost effective designs, and efficient property management.
Aaron Razavi is Associate Marketing Director at Health Care Realty Development.
Visit their blog at http://www.hcrealty.com/medicalrealestatedevelopment/