Daily Wait Times Project

Unacceptable emergency wait times.

Advertising Emergency Department Wait Times

Advertising emergency department (ED) wait times has become a common practice in the United States. Proponents of this practice state that it is a powerful marketing strategy that can help steer patients to the ED. Opponents worry about the risk to the public health that arises from a patient with an emergent condition self-triaging to a further hospital, problems with inaccuracy and lack of st...

Waiting for children's surgery in Canada: the Canadian Paediatric Surgical Wait Times project.

BACKGROUND In addition to possibly prolonged suffering and anxiety, extended waits for children's surgery beyond critical developmental periods has potential for lifelong impact. The goal of this study was to determine the duration of waits for surgery for children and youth at Canadian paediatric academic health sciences centres using clinically-derived access targets (i.e., the maximum accept...

Nova Scotia targets orthopedic wait times.

E362 CMAJ, September 8, 2015, 187(12) ©2015 8872147 Canada Inc. or its licensors Dr. Eric Howatt describes his office as the “the crying clinic.” The orthopedic surgeon and chief of surgery at Valley Regional Hospital in Kentville, Nova Scotia, has the onerous task of explaining to patients why their wait times for hip or knee replacements are routinely three times the national benchmark: 18 mo...

I can't wait: advanced access decreases wait times in primary healthcare.

Research has shown that a strong primary healthcare system results in better health outcomes and lower costs (Starfield 1994). A key characteristic of a strong primary healthcare system is access to care. Two elements of a strong healthcare system are accessibility and short wait times for service. In Canada, a shortage of primary healthcare providers is the biggest obstacle to reducing wait ti...