title: [Patient waiting time at the Medical and Surgical Emergency Center at the Hôpital des Cadolles: a descriptive study].
abstract: Analyzing how much time patient are waiting in the Medical and Surgical Emergency Center (Centre médico-chirurgical des urgences, CMCU) at the Hôpital des Cadolles (Neuchâtel, Switzerland) before discharge, over a 80 days period found that overall, patients spent on average 2 h 26 in the CMCU. There was a difference between hospitalized patients (3 h 16) and discharged patients (1 h 48). The time from first encounter with a health care provider until discharge or admission was 1 h 42 on average. Again, this time was longer for hospitalized (2 h 15 versus 1 h 17 for ambulatory patients). The majority of patients (76%) were assessed by a nurse or a physician within 5 minutes, while the other 24% of patients had to wait 15 minutes on average. Specifically, 26% of patients were seen by a physician within 5 minutes, while the other 74% had to wait 26 minutes on average.
authors.affiliation: Département de médecine, Hôpital des Cadolles, 2007 Neuchâtel.
authors.forename: Walter-Alexandre
authors.initials: WA
authors.lastname: Hanhart
authors.forename: Raffaele
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Malinverni
authors.forename: Réza
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kehtari
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002648:Child; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013503:Surgery Department, Hospital / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013557:Switzerland; D013997:Time Factors; D014850:Waiting Lists