Wait times in the emergency department predicted the rate at which patients left the ED in fewer than four hours, according to a study in Emergency Medicine Journal.
The researchers used the daily percentage of patients leaving the ED in fewer than four hours as an ED quality and performance indicator. A study of 67,307 patients over the course of a year revealed five variables that predicted performance on this measure:
1. Wait time to triage nurse
2. Wait time to ED provider
3. Number of patients admitted to the hospital
4. Length of stay of non-admitted patients
5. Length of stay of patients admitted to the hospital
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