How accurate are waiting time perceptions of patients in the emergency department?

Annals of Emergency Medicine
D A ThompsonA B Spacone

Abstract

To assess the ability of patients to accurately estimate specific waiting times in the emergency department. A questionnaire was administered by telephone to a random sample of 776 patients (or parents or responsible caretakers, if appropriate) who had been treated within the previous 2 to 4 weeks in the ED of a suburban hospital. Respondents were asked their perceptions of two particular time frames: (1) the time elapsed from triage until initial examination by the emergency physician (physician waiting time [PWT]), and (2) the time elapsed from triage until departure from the ED (total waiting time [TWT]). Corresponding actual times were extracted from a computerized database. Time frames were divided into discrete periods for comparison. The correspondence between actual and perceived times was assessed by optimal data analysis. Only 22.3% of the respondents accurately estimated PWT. Although this level of accuracy is statistically significant (P < .0001), it reflects only 11% of the theoretically possible improvement in accuracy beyond chance. More respondents overestimated than underestimated PWT (49.9% versus 27.8%, respectively). In contrast, TWT was accurately estimated by 36.6% of the respondents (P < .0001), reflectin...Continue Reading

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