Health

CDC: Patients Waiting Longer In Emergency Rooms

Pittsburgh Hospitals Do Better Than Average

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) ― We have fast food mentality these days that extends even to the emergency room. People want to be seen now with a smile and might even get a little cranky if they have to wait.

But people could be waiting a little longer now, according to a government report. Some Pittsburgh hospitals, though, do better than average.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says waiting time in the emergency department is up over the last decade -- from just over half an hour to nearly an hour.

For Leyton Ewing of McCandless who came in with an ankle injury -- his wait at the Allegheny General Hospital ER was actually less.

"I waited probably 10 minutes, not even. It was quick, real quick," he says.

Dr. Fred Harchelroad, who is an emergency medicine physician there, isn't surprised. "The average waits here are really less than an hour."

According to the CDC, larger hospitals with what are known as Level One Trauma Centers reported longer average wait times. For instance, the average wait at Allegheny General Hospital is an hour. At smaller hospitals, the periods were found to be shorter - 36 minutes at Heritage Valley in Sewickley and 30 minutes at Jefferson Regional Medical Center.

But nationwide, longer is the trend.

More people are going to the E.R.

"They might wait two hours to be seen by a physician," says Dr. Harchelroad, "but that's better than five days to be seen by their primary care doc."

People come in with more serious problems.

"Previously people would get a simple x-ray - now they get a CT scan," he adds.

There are fewer emergency departments - 200 less across the country over the last 10 years. And fewer in-patient hospital beds can cause back ups. "As those patients back up in the emergancy department, they're taking the beds away from the people who are in the waiting room."

Some smaller local community hospitals pride themselves on their short wait times -- resorting to incentive programs like movie tickets or grocery certificates if the wait is longer than 30 minutes.

"I do think people appreciate the fact that we're making an effort to try to get them in more quickly, and also that we are recognizing sometimes it doesn't work, so we can try to compensate you a little bit," explains Dr. Moira Davenport. She was the only E.R. attending physician on duty at Suburban General Hospital, with just six patients on her roster at the time of this mid-day interview.

Pittsburgh seems to compare better than some other places. "In larger cities, it's not at all uncommon to hear of waits of three or four hours," she points out.

How long you wait can also depend on what time of day you show up. The peak sign in time for patients is between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. The slowest is between 3 a.m. and 6 a.m.

(© MMVIII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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