Consumers Should Plan Ahead

All consumers should be prepared and understand what to expect from a trip to the emergency department. To help you plan ahead, use the following checklist and emergency preparedness worksheet:

• Consumer Checklist (PDF)
• My Family’s Emergency Preparedness List (PDF)
• When to Go to the ED (PDF)

In 2008, patients spent an average of 243 minutes, or four hours and three minutes, door-to-door in the emergency department. A nationwide comparison of total time spent in the emergency department in 2008 reveals how states compare with each other:

See time spent-national comparison (PDF) graph.

Additionally, the emergency department is best used for urgent care needs but not for regular medical attention that can be conducted through a regularly scheduled physician appointment. Using the emergency department for non-urgent issues is not cost- or time-effective for the patient or the emergency department.

Key Insights from the 2009 Pulse Report

• Patients in South Dakota have the shortest average total time spent in the ED with nearly four hours less than the average in Utah, the state with the longest total average.
• Virginia and Maryland had the greatest improvement in reducing total time compared with last year.
• Communication is key. Even patients who wait less than one hour report very low satisfaction with the experience if they are not well informed about delays.
• Hospitals are improving. Overall emergency department satisfaction has improved slightly since 2002 when Press Ganey began collecting this data.
  

General facts from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

• 119.2 million people visit the emergency department in the United States each year.
• The most commonly diagnosed conditions: injury and poisoning.
• The most frequent injuries were unintentional falls (20.3%) and motor vehicle traffic accidents (9.5%).
• Only 15.4% of patients arrive by ambulance.
• Approximately 227 people visit a U.S. emergency department every minute.
• The age group with the highest annual per capita ED visit rate was infants under 12 months of age.
• Persons aged 75 years and older had the second highest per capita ED visit rate.