Emergency rooms mean waits, generally of the long variety. I know firsthand as I volunteer in one weekly and hear crusty testimonials from the tired, frustrated, and hurting as to how long those waits are.
Yet: on a given night, in Winnipeg at least, different ER’s have vastly different wait lengths. So why not publish ER wait times, or make them available via text message or 311 service? Why not let those who can choose which hospital they go to help self-correct the problem via natural load-balancing?
Actually, there’s probably a number of reasons why such a move would have unintended negative consequences. For example, publishing long wait times might discourage someone from seeking medical help when they need it. Or consider that there’s an implicit two-tier element to this: those who have cars enjoy shorter wait times. I’m sure there’s a hundred other unintended consequences that would arise from on the surface what seems to be a simple suggestion.
Ultimately, this discussion draws one back to the “emergency” element of ER’s, and the realization that wait times are the by-product of ER’s clogged with people with non-emergency conditions who don’t have a primary care physician. Which, of course, is a much bigger discussion than ER wait times.
So what do you think? Is the act of publishing wait times worth the risk to social balance or the chance of scaring people off?
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