ERs post wait times; critics question effect
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Online, via text message or flashing on a billboard, some emergency rooms are advertising how long the dreaded wait for care will be, with estimates updated every few minutes. It’s a marketing move aimed at less urgent patients, not the true emergencies that automatically go to the front of the line anyway and shouldn’t waste precious minutes checking the wait.
“If you’re in a car accident, you’re not going to flip open your iPhone and see what the wait times are,” cautions Dr. Sandra Schneider, president-elect of the American College of Emergency Physicians.
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The Detroit Medical Center is among the few major health systems in Metro Detroit to embrace the approach. The DMC began posting wait times at its five emergency departments on its website in March and has since expanded the updates to cell phones.