title: [Prospective study of waiting time delays in a university hospital emergency department with a physician triage model].
abstract: To measure waiting time delays of patients and to evaluate if the waiting time before the first physician contact is inversely correlated to the illness severity. During the period of 26/02/2007 through 3/03/2007, we prospectively studied the waiting times before the first contact with a physician (WTP) and the length of stay (LS) in 473 patients (0.8% of the annual patient volume) evaluated in our emergency department, which has a physician triage model. The WTP was correlated to a severity score "Clinical Classification of Patients in Emergency (CCPE)". The median WTP was: 48 (22-79) min. (minutes) (median, P25, P75). This time was 33 (14-47), 16 (3-28) and 3 (0-3) min. for patients having a CCPE score of 3, 4 and 5. The median LS was 119 (76-186) min. In conclusion, the waiting times are comparable to those measured in similar studies. The waiting time evaluated according to CCPE is adequate.
authors.affiliation: Service des Urgences et du SMUR, C.H.U. Saint-Pierre, Bruxelles. magalibartiaux@gmail.com
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bartiaux
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Mols
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006785:Hospitals, University / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007902:Length of Stay / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D010820:Physicians; D011446:Prospective Studies; D013997:Time Factors; D014218:Triage / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014850:Waiting Lists; D055815:Young Adult