Wait Times
Emergency rooms see the most serious patients first, not based on who arrived first. Frequently, patients with these serious conditions arrive by ambulance and patients in the waiting room are unaware of their presence. We treat those with serious conditions quickly because their condition is often life-or-death and quick treatment can improve their outcome.
There is no way to accurately predict a waiting time for patients who come in through the front door. How long someone in the waiting room will be there can depend on several factors: how many people arrive at the same time, how many seriously ill or injured patients are being treated, how complex the serious conditions are.
First Step Triage – Every patient receives a triage by a nurse when they arrive. Depending on how many patients are arriving at the same time, this could happen fairly quickly. The nurse completes a basic assessment of the patient’s symptoms to determine the severity of their condition.
Treatment – Serious conditions are taken back and treated first. They may require extensive tests and waiting for results of tests during busy periods will take longer.