A multicentre, qualitative evaluation of the impact of advertised Emergency Department (ED) wait time on ED patients, potential patients and other stakeholders.

Abstract

The decision to seek out emergency medical care is complex and nuanced. Many factors influence what care to seek and when. Once a facility or provider is chosen, there will be expectations for care competency and timeliness. Acutely unwell or distressed patients hope to see a Health Clinician or Doctor immediately on arrival, however this is rarely achievable. The reality for most patients is that they join a queue for care and wait to be treated. Previously, community health providers and patients have been blinded to the length of those queues. In the era of expanding Information Technology (IT) capabilities, advertised Emergency Department (ED) wait times (real-time, available on the internet) have recently been posted in Australia, including Cabrini ED’s time to see a doctor. There is a paucity of information regarding the impact of this on patients, paramedics and community members. The goal of the study is to explore the potential impact of advertised ED wait times by interviewing consumers and potential consumers of this information. Through this exploration, we hope to provide insight into the positive and negative aspects of this tool, allowing health administrators to determine whether and how to deploy the information. This study will be a prospective, multicentre, qualitative study collecting data via semi-structured interviews with patients (or guardians), paramedics and community members. It will be conducted over 3 months at Cabrini Hospital, Monash Medical Centre and Box Hill emergency departments. Community members (Bolton-Clarke consumers, sports club members and community representatives) will be interviewed either face to face or via telephone. The interviews will be recorded and transcribed. All data will be analysed and a descriptive paper submitted to various biomedical journals. This study aims to explore the impact of advertised ED wait times which may influence future policy decisions, the structure and deployment of wait time information and ongoing wait time and IT metadata application research.