Two recent studies in JAMA Internal Medicine have shed light on the characteristics of ED visits in the United States. The following are 10 findings on ED visits by institution type, ED wait times and ED throughput.
The first study analyzed nearly 3,700 records collected between 2012 and 2013 from nearly 3,700 patients:
- 75 percent of ED visits were at nonteaching hospitals.
- 66 percent of ED visits were at nonprofit hospitals.
- More than 50 percent of ED visits were in urban settings.
- Patients admitted to the hospital spent about four hours in the ED. One-third of that time was spent after admission but before an inpatient bed became available.
- Patients not admitted to a hospital spent two hours in the ED, one-forth of which was spent in the waiting room.
- Urban ED patients spent more time waiting and in the ED than rural patients.
- Public/teaching hospital ED patients spent the most time in the ED of patients at all types of the facilities.
Findings from the second study are from 2010 National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey data from approximately 25,000 ED visits:
- More than 50 percent of EDs were able to move at least 90 percent of ED patients requiring hospital admissions out of the ED within eight hours.
- Less than 25 percent of EDs discharged at least 90 percent of nonadmitted patients within four hours.
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