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About time! A scoping review of public-facing emergency department wait time displays in Canada

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Canadian Journal of Emergency Medicine Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

Waiting is a common experience for patients during an emergency department (ED) visit. While high acuity patients are seen with little delay, low acuity patients may experience dissatisfaction from prolonged wait times. One strategy to improve patient experience involves changing the perception of the wait by providing realistic expectations of wait times using public-facing wait time displays. The primary objective of this study is to quantify the number of Canadian EDs with online wait time displays and describe the features and type of information provided.

Methods

A systematic online search of all Canadian EDs was completed to identify EDs with public-facing wait time displays. A scoping review was then performed to assess their message characteristics, translations offered, availability of multi-site information, and accessibility features. Data were summarized using descriptive statistics.

Results

Sixty (9.3%) of the 647 Canadian EDs identified provide public-facing real-time wait time displays. Thirteen of these (21.7%) were associated with a single proprietary system. Distribution of wait time displays differs across Canada, with a range of zero to 100% of EDs within each province utilizing this communication tool. Common characteristics include “average” wait time (95%), graphical trend data (32%), number of patients waiting (33%), longest wait time (12%), and expected length of stay (10%). Sixty-two percent of wait time displays provide a combination of these methods to inform wait times. Important accessibility features include language translation, compliance with Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB) accessibility guidelines and availability on a mobile application.

Conclusion

Currently, there is emerging use of wait time displays in Canada with considerable variability in the information communicated through these tools. Effectiveness of these displays and their content needs to be determined.

Résumé

Objectif

L'attente est une expérience courante pour les patients lors d'une visite au service des urgences (SU). Alors que les patients avec un niveau d'acuité élevé sont vus dans les plus brefs délais, les patients à faible degré d'acuité peuvent éprouver de l’insatisfaction à cause des temps d’attente prolongés. Une stratégie visant à améliorer l'expérience des patients consiste à modifier la perception de l'attente en fournissant des attentes réalistes en matière de temps d'attente au moyen d'affichages de temps d'attente destinés au public. L'objectif principal de la présente étude est de quantifier le nombre de services d'urgence canadiens qui affichent les temps d'attente en ligne et de décrire les caractéristiques et le type d'information fournie.

Méthodes

Une recherche systématique en ligne de tous les services d'urgence canadiens a été effectuée afin d'identifier les services d'urgence qui affichent les temps d'attente à l'intention du public. Un examen de la portée a ensuite été effectué pour évaluer les caractéristiques de leurs messages, les traductions offertes, la disponibilité d'informations multisites et les caractéristiques d'accessibilité. Les données ont été résumées à l'aide de statistiques descriptives.

Résultats

Soixante (9,3 %) des 647 urgences canadiennes recensées offrent au public un affichage en temps réel des temps d'attente. Treize d'entre eux (21,7 %) étaient associés à un seul système propriétaire. La répartition des affichages sur les temps d’attente varie d’un bout à l’autre du Canada, avec une fourchette de zéro à 100 % des services d'urgence dans chaque province utilisant cet outil de communication. Les caractéristiques communes comprennent le temps d'attente « moyen » (95 %), les données de tendance graphique (32 %), le nombre de patients en attente (33 %), le temps d'attente le plus long (12 %) et la durée prévue du séjour (10 %). Soixante-deux pour cent des affichages des temps d'attente fournissent une combinaison de ces méthodes pour informer les temps d'attente. Les fonctionnalités d'accessibilité importantes incluent la traduction linguistique, la conformité aux directives d'accessibilité de l'Institut national canadien pour les aveugles (INCA) et la disponibilité sur une application mobile.

Conclusion

À l’heure actuelle, l’utilisation des présentoirs sur les temps d’attente au Canada est de plus en plus répandue, et l’information communiquée au moyen de ces outils varie considérablement. L'efficacité de ces affichages et de leur contenu doit être déterminée.

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Availability of data and materials

Requests for access to other data should be addressed to senior author: Kevin Cheung kcheung@cheo.on.ca. All requests will need to specify how the data will be used and will require approval by co-investigators.

Code availability

Not applicable.

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Funding

The work was supported by a summer student research grant from the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Health Sciences, School of Medicine, Queen’s University, Kingston, ON, Canada

    Raahulan Rathagirishnan

  2. Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada

    Isabelle Birchall

  3. School of Kinesiology and Health Studies, Queen’s University, Kingston, ON, Canada

    Amy Latimer-Cheung

  4. Division of Emergency Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario, Ottawa, ON, Canada

    Sandy Tse

  5. Division of Plastic Surgery, Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario, Ottawa, ON, Canada

    Kevin Cheung

Authors
  1. Raahulan Rathagirishnan
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  2. Isabelle Birchall
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  3. Amy Latimer-Cheung
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  4. Sandy Tse
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  5. Kevin Cheung
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Contributions

Concept and design of the study; RR, KC, and ALC. Acquisition, analysis, and interpretation of data; RR and IB. Manuscript drafting; RR. Critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content; ALC, ST, and KC.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Raahulan Rathagirishnan.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Rathagirishnan, R., Birchall, I., Latimer-Cheung, A. et al. About time! A scoping review of public-facing emergency department wait time displays in Canada. Can J Emerg Med 24, 503–508 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s43678-022-00301-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s43678-022-00301-4

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