The Risks Associated with Long ER Wait Times

Quality of life matters, especially at the start of the year. This is a time to look at what’s important in our lives, like our relationships, money, and health. Long ER wait times are not just an inefficient use of time; they can also risk lives.

Many people plan to take better care of their health each new year, but not everyone keeps to these plans. Even with regular doctor visits, anyone can still face emergencies needing immediate care. Let’s look into how long waiting times affect our quality of life.

ER Wait Times

No one enjoys waiting. It’s frustrating when our food takes too long at a restaurant, and we get impatient if the car ahead of us is slow to move at a stop sign.

However, waiting during a medical emergency can be especially tough, causing distress and fear. Medical professionals do not intentionally delay care. Yet, patients should be prepared for waits at busy hospital emergency rooms.

According to data published by Harvard Business Review, on average, a patient in a U.S. hospital emergency department (ED) waits over an hour and a half to be assigned a room and approximately 2.25 hours to be discharged.

Wait times in emergency departments are influenced by the severity of the patient’s condition. Individuals with severe injuries or symptoms indicative of critical conditions like heart attacks or strokes receive immediate attention. Those with less urgent symptoms may experience longer waits. Given the high workload in emergency rooms, there’s a risk that some patients with potentially serious conditions might not receive timely care.

The issue of patients leaving the emergency room without receiving needed medical care has nearly doubled recently.

Extended waiting times can adversely affect our quality of life. Delays in medical treatment can lead to worsened symptoms, longer recovery times, permanent disability, or even death.

How Physicians Premier Help Improve Quality of Life

Our innovative business model at Physicians Premier significantly reduces the chance of overcrowding in our emergency rooms. We maintain a robust staffing approach, ensuring we have a sufficient number of doctors, assistants, and nurse practitioners to attend to our patients promptly.

At our facilities, patients experience minimal wait times before being seen by our medical team. Non-critical cases receive prompt attention shortly after arrival, while those with critical conditions are attended to immediately.

Thanks to our onsite laboratory and diagnostic imaging, our doctors typically diagnose and start treatment promptly.

Patients at Physicians Premier usually return home within an hour of arriving, a quicker turnaround than the over 2-hour waits at busy hospital ERs.

We understand the importance of quality of life and the stress associated with ER visits. Our commitment is to provide exceptional, speedy emergency care at competitive prices.

Quality of life is our priority; we understand the stress associated with ER visits, especially when faced with long ER wait times. Our commitment is to deliver top-notch emergency care swiftly and affordably. While emergencies are unpredictable, knowing where to go can make all the difference.

Sources:

“25 facts and statistics on emergency departments in the US,” Beckers Hospital, https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/hospital-management-administration/25-facts-and-statistics-on-emergency-departments-in-the-us.html
“To Reduce Emergency Room Wait Times, Tie Them to Payments,” Harvard Business Review, https://hbr.org/2019/02/to-reduce-emergency-room-wait-times-tie-them-to-payments