How Long Are Patients Willing to Wait in the Emergency Department Before Leaving Without Being Seen?
Introduction: Our goal was to evaluate patients’ threshold for waiting in an emergency department(ED) waiting room before leaving without being seen (LWBS). We analyzed whether willingness to wait was influenced by perceived illness severity, age, race, triage acuity level, or insurance status.Metho...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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eScholarship Publishing, University of California
2012-12-01
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| Series: | Western Journal of Emergency Medicine |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://escholarship.org/uc/item/3f76719z |
| _version_ | 1818144734637457408 |
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| author | Michael N Brodeur Michael E Winters Michael D Witting Sanober B Shaikh David A Jerrard |
| author_facet | Michael N Brodeur Michael E Winters Michael D Witting Sanober B Shaikh David A Jerrard |
| author_sort | Michael N Brodeur |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Introduction: Our goal was to evaluate patients’ threshold for waiting in an emergency department(ED) waiting room before leaving without being seen (LWBS). We analyzed whether willingness to wait was influenced by perceived illness severity, age, race, triage acuity level, or insurance status.Methods: We conducted this survey-based study from March to July 2010 at an urban academic medical center. After triage, patients were given a multiple-choice questionnaire, designed to as certain how long they would wait for medical care. We collected data including age, gender, race,insurance status, and triage acuity level. We looked at the association between willingness to wait and these variables, using stratified analysis and logistic regression.Results: Of the 375 patients who were approached, 340 (91%) participated. One hundred seventy one(51%) were willing to wait up to 2 hours before leaving, 58 (17%) would wait 2 to 8 hours, and110 (32%) would wait indefinitely. No association was found between willingness to wait and race,gender, insurance status, or perceived symptom severity. Patients willing to wait >2 hours tended to be older than 25, have higher acuity, and prefer the study site ED.Conclusion: Many patients have a defined, limited period that they are willing to wait for emergency care. In our study, 50% of patients were willing to wait up to 2 hours before leaving the ED without being seen. This result suggests that efforts to reduce the percentage of patients who LWBS must factor in time limits. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-11T11:52:16Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-8cf0d87ba5d3450ab3746e79d4c6a737 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1936-900X 1936-9018 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-11T11:52:16Z |
| publishDate | 2012-12-01 |
| publisher | eScholarship Publishing, University of California |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Western Journal of Emergency Medicine |
| spelling | doaj.art-8cf0d87ba5d3450ab3746e79d4c6a7372022-12-22T01:08:20ZengeScholarship Publishing, University of CaliforniaWestern Journal of Emergency Medicine1936-900X1936-90182012-12-01136463467How Long Are Patients Willing to Wait in the Emergency Department Before Leaving Without Being Seen?Michael N BrodeurMichael E WintersMichael D WittingSanober B ShaikhDavid A JerrardIntroduction: Our goal was to evaluate patients’ threshold for waiting in an emergency department(ED) waiting room before leaving without being seen (LWBS). We analyzed whether willingness to wait was influenced by perceived illness severity, age, race, triage acuity level, or insurance status.Methods: We conducted this survey-based study from March to July 2010 at an urban academic medical center. After triage, patients were given a multiple-choice questionnaire, designed to as certain how long they would wait for medical care. We collected data including age, gender, race,insurance status, and triage acuity level. We looked at the association between willingness to wait and these variables, using stratified analysis and logistic regression.Results: Of the 375 patients who were approached, 340 (91%) participated. One hundred seventy one(51%) were willing to wait up to 2 hours before leaving, 58 (17%) would wait 2 to 8 hours, and110 (32%) would wait indefinitely. No association was found between willingness to wait and race,gender, insurance status, or perceived symptom severity. Patients willing to wait >2 hours tended to be older than 25, have higher acuity, and prefer the study site ED.Conclusion: Many patients have a defined, limited period that they are willing to wait for emergency care. In our study, 50% of patients were willing to wait up to 2 hours before leaving the ED without being seen. This result suggests that efforts to reduce the percentage of patients who LWBS must factor in time limits.http://escholarship.org/uc/item/3f76719zEmergency Medicineclinical practice |
| spellingShingle | Michael N Brodeur Michael E Winters Michael D Witting Sanober B Shaikh David A Jerrard How Long Are Patients Willing to Wait in the Emergency Department Before Leaving Without Being Seen? Western Journal of Emergency Medicine Emergency Medicine clinical practice |
| title | How Long Are Patients Willing to Wait in the Emergency Department Before Leaving Without Being Seen? |
| title_full | How Long Are Patients Willing to Wait in the Emergency Department Before Leaving Without Being Seen? |
| title_fullStr | How Long Are Patients Willing to Wait in the Emergency Department Before Leaving Without Being Seen? |
| title_full_unstemmed | How Long Are Patients Willing to Wait in the Emergency Department Before Leaving Without Being Seen? |
| title_short | How Long Are Patients Willing to Wait in the Emergency Department Before Leaving Without Being Seen? |
| title_sort | how long are patients willing to wait in the emergency department before leaving without being seen |
| topic | Emergency Medicine clinical practice |
| url | http://escholarship.org/uc/item/3f76719z |
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