A study of waiting time in an emergency department

A study was undertaken to determine the time spent by 3459 patients in the Emergency Department of the hospital and also to assess whether full-time physician supervision of interns appreciably influenced this time.The study was divided into three phases, each lasting two weeks. Cases were classified into five graded categories of severity. The data so accumulated were subjected to computer analysis, and time intervals relevant to the study obtained.Mean waiting times compared favourably with those recorded in other studies. Full-time physician supervision of interns was found to produce a small, but none the less appreciable, decrease in this time.