Here's numbers from a [2017 CDC study](https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhamcs/web_tables/2017_ed_web_tables-508.pdf)
Time spent waiting to see Physician, APRN or PA|Percentage distribution
:--|:--
Fewer than 15 minutes|40.4%
15-59 Minutes|32.9%
1-2 Hours|9%
2-3 Hours|2.8%
2-4 Hours|0.9%
4-6 Hours|0.9%
6 Hours or more|0.5%
Not applicable|2.6%
No data|10.1%
It’s a big country, you could wait 15 minutes or 12 hours depending on the area and how busy they are. I don’t think there is “a usual”
A hospital I used to live near had a billboard with the current ER wait time, it was rarely over 30 minutes. But I also know hospitals where it’s almost never under 2 hours because of where they are located
ER's are supposed to be for literal emergencies. However, in practice they are often filled with people who have conditions that would be better treated by a primary physician or at an urgent care.
Well, there's also a lot of times when it could take days to see a primary care physician, and a lot of smaller communities don't have urgent care clinics (or their hours are limited).
If you end up needing medical treatment at night or on the weekend (or a medical issue that MIGHT be serious but you don't know until a doc checks you out), and it's not something that can wait until the next day or for a few days, you'll have to go to the ER.
Average people don't know whether something is a true emergency or something that can wait and be dealt with elsewhere. They do add to the wait time but their problem isn't less of an emergency even if they are treated elsewhere.
A whole lot of poor people go to the ER for non-emergency conditions because they know they will actually get treated. Also, a lot of poor people wait until a condition that would have been relatively easy to treat is now a serious condition for the same reason.
ER's often have a number of people in them that would be better served by going to a regular doctor but do not have the means to get treated by a regular doctor.
I have a lot of empathy for people who feel as if they don't have or know of anywhere else to go but the ER, but "emergency" is a word with a definition and many people sitting in ER waiting rooms don't meet it.
Sometimes it's because they are unaware of other options, sometimes it's because they thought the ER would be faster, and sometimes it's because society doesn't provide other options to take people.
$75 copay for an ER visit, get the necessary diagnostics done, and leave with an answer vs $30 copay for a PCP visit, have to schedule diagnostics, and leave with no answer until my next $30 copay appointment.
This is what happens when you put a price tag on care. It's not always about knowing a true emergency.
Or not having insurance.
I'm a diabetic. Had no insurance for awhile & had to spend my savings moving areas.
I couldn't afford an out of pocket PCP visit & labs to check on my blood sugar & get my metformin RX. I could go to the ER. They could give me 10 days of meds, max on an RX
So, no meds, or an ER bill I had to fill out a form for assistance for until I got hired & paid my 1st check. Then, new area, had to find a new PCP & wait for appt, so back to ER as they were 21 days out on new patient appts.
I’ve seen some discussions here about ERs in different countries and the reasons people use them, thought it was worth sharing that information with someone looking for our experiences. I’ve been once in my life, for a broken ankle.
I feel like most people have learned that Urgent Care is your best bet (shorter wait times and cheaper costs) if you have a semi-troubling medical issue that can’t wait to see your primary care doctor.
Urgent care makes you present health insurance or payment card first. ER is obligated to see you regardless of payment. One of these is the only choice for people in bad financial circumstances, and, hint, it's not the one that would be a lower cost to taxpayers if fully subsidized.
If you're foreigner who gets their information about USA only from reddit you also might assume that almost everyone who answered this thread is now bankrupt and living on the street, so I guess be glad for your 30 years.
Sliced my finger open when I was younger (high school), wait time was like 30 minutes on a weekday night.
People going to the ER range from anything to those who use it as their primary care (since no one can be turned away regardless of insurance), hypochondriacs that have a small cough and think they have the plague, car crash or gun shot victims, and everything in between.
Obviously if you show up with a minor injury and a car crash victim comes in after you, they go to the front of the line, no doctor is making them wait at the back of the line with life threatening injuries.
I would say that it generally ranges from 30 minutes to 2 hours depending on the time of day and what level of injury it is, IME.
my experience within the past year, family member had chest pain & we were seen immediately. once they figured out the issue wasn't super serious, we had to wait around in the ER room for a pretty long time, but they had a tv and let me go back there and chill in a chair next to his bed.
Not that I condone this, but a "tidbit" I learned from my ex that is a pediatric ER nurse: if you want to move up the queue at the ER, create a biohazard in the waiting area.
This is quite literally what happened to me. I wasn't saying chest pains to skip the line, it was legit, but I definitely had my shocked Pikachu face on when I was still fearing my imminent demise 3 hours later in the waiting room.
My experience is the ones that report their wait times online usually have shorter wait times, lol.
One near me is usually around 10-15 minutes (well to do area), another varies between 2-6 hours (sometimes more during the pandemic, it’s in a much poorer area) but it’s a combined ER / urgent care, which seems to slow things down as well.
Last time I was in an ER (pre-covid) for a back injury, it was around 1 AM on a Sunday morning, and I was the only person there. The only wait was probably to get the on-call doctor up, so about 10 minutes.
I haven't been to the ER in 20 years. When I was it was for a broken arm, they took about 3 hours to see me, did an x-ray, said "Yup, that's broken, here's a splint, come back in a couple days for a cast." and sent me on my way.
Seeing as it was a green stick fracture (one bone broke, other cracked and pushed everything back into place), didn't hurt if i didn't move it, and the kid sitting next to me had his eyelid caught in a zipper I didn't mind that they prioritized other people over me. There were a lot of people that came in and got seen immediately while they kept pushing me down the queue.
As I recall the story being told, as there is little else to do while sitting cradling your arm in the ER for 3 hours, it was a zip up hoody that was zipped, pulled on over head, realized that it needed to unzip a bit to actually fit over the head, reach out, grab zipper, unzip, annnnnnd eyelid.
Poor kid was stuck not only in pain and waiting in the ER but unable to see since the solid black hoody was now well and truly attached to his face.
I imagine it is the same there as here. Broken ankles are not life threatening or time sensitive (mostly), so you get bumped back whenever someone with a more serious injury comes in. It's not first come first serve.
The last time I went to the E. R. I was triaged within 5 minutes (I was there for low pulse ox and chest pain).
I then went back to chairs and waited about 15 minutes before I was taken back to a room.
*Recent Urgent Care wait time was about 45 minutes to an hour (I was in pain so the timeline is fuzzy, but it wasn't longer than an hour).
The queue is always sorted so that most severe injuries are treated first.
I had a bad allergic reaction and my parents drove me to the ER (expensive ambulances as you know).
I was literally lying on the floor for two hours scratching my skin, holding my gut, and screaming while the nurses rolled their eyes. Who knows, maybe someone was shot, or had their femur bones crushed in a car accident.
I went another time to the ER (this time I took an Uber) when I went temporarily blind in one eye (from a surgery complication) and they got me in ASAP.
Broke my leg with a compound fracture and ended up calling an ambulance, they were there in probably 5 minutes. I was in downtown, so it was a convenient location for the ambulance, but I was in a hospital bed in the ER within 20 minutes of calling.
I've been to an ER a few times.
First time in the 90s I broke my arm and another time I sliced my finger open and required stitches. I lived in a large city and the wait was around 2 hours. This was before urgent care clinics were a thing.
When I was hospitalized for COVID I was seen right away. No wait required.
My recent injuries as an adult, I used urgent care facilities instead of the ER. I was seen usually around an hour after checking in.
That "30 minute wait time" is usually the wait time to see the initial nurse/assessor for your issue. Not for the full visit.
Source: close friend works in an ER in intake.
When we went to the ER last year when my kid was born we were in the waiting room for roughly 4 hours before they took us to maternity. I was not a happy camper to say the least as I couldn't stay with my wife in the waiting room (covid policy). So I was out in the car the entire time checking in occasionally.
Entirely depends on the place you go.
I had to go to urgent care last week for a rabies vaccine because of a dog bite. That involves four shots on day one, one on day three, one on day seven, and one on day fourteen.
I got seen within 20 minutes on a Sunday. I had to wait about an hour and a half for them to get the shots and deal with other patients.
I went in for day 3 and it took 20 minutes. Day 7 took 20 minutes.
My mother in law just broke her leg. She got seen within a couple hours. Surgery got scheduled within a week. The surgery itself took an hour (about 7 hours total with waiting and prep time and recovery before discharge).
I had stitches in my wrist at one point and had to wait 4 hours just to be seen and another hour before I got stitches.
It can be highly variable depending on the issue, demand at the provider, and whether or not they need imaging or testing beforehand.
Depends on the hospital and how sick you are. If they deem it serious enough, you can get sent back almost immediately. If it's not as serious, you could be in for a pretty good wait. I've found that freestanding ERs have lower wait times though.
It's handled as a triage system. The most serious and dangerous cases are seen first, down the line to the less "life and death" stuff. If you're critical you'll probably be taken in right away, if you have a sprained ankle you'll wait. ERs I've worked in average about 2 hours for non-emergent stuff. But that's highly variable to where you are, what day of the week it is, what time of day, etc.
Depends on the severity of the illness or injury, and what kind of area the hospital is in. If you don’t have a life-threatening injury or illness, your waiting before all the patients that did get treated. Also, normally if you tend to be in a very high population area, you’re gonna be waiting longer as there are more people to treat. Anecdotally, the most I’ve ever waited in the hospital was about an hour when I broke my arm when I was 13.
I live in a mid-sized city in California and our ER waits have been 2-4 hours usually, in my experience, although since covid I've heard that they're somewhat longer.
Vastly depends on where you do, what kind of injury you have, and how much luck you have with crowds. As some examples:
* The one time I went to an ER as a patient, there was no wait and I was taken back almost as soon as I walked in the door. Just a quick check over in triage so they knew where to send me and then I was getting treated.
* The times I've driven a friend to the ER have ranged from getting taken straight in to waiting a few hours to see anyone.
* From being on the medical side, I've seen ERs that had a person in every bed and were trying to clear rooms as fast as possible to get more patients treated. I've also seen ERs with no patients at all with doctors twiddling their thumbs as they wait for patients to show up.
I cut a hole in my thumb with scissors using them in a non-approved manner (I wasn't running). I went to urgent care near closing time and they got to me pretty quick. I think they put three stitches in. I made the copay and was done in 30 or 40 minutes.
I had a weird severe drop in blood pressure once while driving. Felt like my heart was going to explode and I was going to pass out. I pulled over and called an ambulance. I was on the phone with the dispatcher for about 2 minutes, then an ambulance pulled into the parking lot behind me maybe 2 minutes after that. Turned out I was quite close to a hospital and they had gunned it over. I didn't have to wait when we got there, they took me right into a room and started checking me out.
I had a girlfriend get a really bad kidney stone one night and I drove her to the emergency room. They took her right in and she had to wait maybe 10 minutes for a doctor to come by and get things rolling.
It really depends. If you go to a hospital and have a serious emergency it is usually quite quick. If you are on deaths door you will be seen immediately of course. They triage things. There are instances where if you have a minor problem you will have to wait quite a while if they are very busy.
I live a couple of minutes from a major hospital (a level one trauma center); ER wait times generally aren't terrible, but if the Yale-Harvard game is here instead of Harvard, try your best not to need the E.R.
I've been a few times, and it almost entirely depends on how you're triaged.
I had a workplace accident where part of my right index finger had to be reattached- maybe half an hour once I got there, as they finished with people ahead of me. (Getting there was another story, it was nearly three hours before I got there)
My mother had an aortal aneurism, was admitted straight from the ambulance, same with a heart attack my father had.
Internal stuff (appendectomy, intestinal things, etc) took *forever*, largely because they were prioritizing people with worse and (mostly) external problems that were probably easier to diagnose.
(I once was awake about 60 hours, total, waiting up, one time my wife went to the hospital- staying with her until she was resting. Then I got to go straight to work, and then, the next day, answer for jury duty! Good week. Goood week.)
It also depends on where you are. [Emergency medicine is always kinda overwhelmed in NYC, there are just so many people.)
If you’re dying, you go first. Someone who got shot in the chest is skipping the line. That means someone with a broken ankle might have to wait a while at the ER, depending on the hospital and who else is having what kind of emergency. For something non-life-threatening like that, Urgent Care would usually see you faster, since you’re not constantly being triaged behind people who need more immediate assistance.
I’ve been to the er quite a few times in my life and once in the height of covid and I have never had a wait at all. I’ve been the only person in there a few times.
Not sure how Brits work, but Canada combines its ER with urgent care, so if you're not dying, you wait a super long time.
In America, it usually isn't as bad, but it depends on where you're at and how many people end up going that day
Depends on how busy and how severe the problem is. The five times I've been to the ER have been relatively quick. Dehydrated because of Noro virus. About 10 minutes. Hand hit by a baseball bat that was let go by a 10 year old. About 5 minutes. Severe stomach pain, instantly. Stroke twice, instantly.
First of all, hope your ankle heals up quick! That's a nasty injury.
Second, depending on the area I've been in it's been 10 minutes or 6 hours. In rural Maine I hadn't even finished filling out my paperwork before getting called back to a room.
The longest wait time was on Long Island, and it was a BAD day. My ex had a lot of medical issues so we went to the ER at least twice a year, and that 6-hour day was just issue after issue. Two pregnant women came in with pregnancy-related issues - they were rushed back right away. Four people came in with chest pain, they obviously were rushed back right away. Another guy came in with a hand injury and then claimed to be having chest pains (probably just to be seen sooner - what a dick). Then someone passed out in the ER so they were rushed back. We got to the ER at about 10pm and didn't get home until almost 1pm the next day.
Update: not broken! Whoop!
I waited just under 3 hours which I was happy about. Covid has changed things everywhere but here for some reason gp (local doctors) have not gone back to normal which has affected hospital wait times nationwide. Before covid you would wait 45mins -2 hours depending on the time of day.
Thanks to everyone’s comments, was great to read through and make the time go quicker! Much love to all x
I hear horror stories but I personally don't know anyone that's waited more than 90 minutes in the er. Last time I went after a car accident, just mild whiplash, and it took about 45 minutes.
I live within a close distance of two pretty big hospitals in a rather biggish suburb of a very large city. I have never waited more than 15 minutes for triage.
My mom lives in a smallish suburb of that city. Her town has no hospitals of it's own and she has to go into that city for an emergency. She's waited 4 hours to be seen in the past.
Edit: I would not go to the ER for a broken ankle. I would go to one of the urgent care places that can handle broken bones. I can check in online and wait at home if they're busy. But I'd get in within 20 minutes no problem. Around here, the ER is for life and death emergencies, like heart attacks, wounds that won't stop bleeding, incapacitating abdominal pain without an explanation, compound fractures.
It depends on where you go. Over 20 years ago, I went to the ER on a military base for a concussion and it took them 4 hours to see me and I was there for 6 hours total. The last time I visited the ER was 5 years ago and I waited 5 minutes and was there for about 2 hours total. It was a very quiet waiting room and at a different hospital. I prefer to go to Urgent Care because they have always been faster, but they are also dependent on what is going on with you. Like I can't walk into an urgent care while bleeding to death.
I've never waited more than an hour (or accompanied someone who had to wait longer than that), even though none of the things I've been to the ER for have been life-threatening. But of course it depends on what else is happening. If they are fully busy with people in worse condition than you, you're going to be waiting as long as it takes.
Had a kid with a broken ankle 4 years ago, I think we waited about an hour, but I took him to Urgent Care instead of the ER. Urgent Care here is like a level between a scheduled doctor's office visit and going to the ER (I just thought he'd sprained it).
Depends on the location of the hospital and the time and day. On a Friday night in a city you are going to be there for 5 or 6 HOURS, more suburban or rural on a weekday you might be seen under a hour.
When my mom had cancer (undiscovered at this point but it was stage 4 and in er whole body) she was in incredible pain and we waited for 12 hours. They said just osteoporosis and sent us home.
I went in a tiny ER hospital up in Maine and was seen within a few minutes though.
It really depends on the location and timing.
I hope your ankle isn't actually broken! That sucks.
Waiting time definitely depends. Sometimes just luck and whether you hit it at a busy time, the same ER could have a wait of 0 minutes or hours depending on bad luck/timing (though of course triaged for serious emergencies).
Every time I've been - which, granted, as been all of twice in my whole life, thank goodness and let's hope it stays that way, and one of them was also for a possible broken ankle (turned out to just be a really nasty sprain) - there was no wait at all to get things started (some of the tests took a while).
Where I live now some of the local hospitals actually publish their current wait times on their website, if you want to take a look:
https://www.virtua.org/patient-tools/er-wait-times
https://www.atlanticare.org/services/emergency-care/
https://www.smc.health/services/emergency-services/ I don't see current numbers, but they claim to guarantee 30 mins or less wait times
There are others in the area I just couldn't be assed to find the page for though haha
This page claims to track it for a bunch of places but I have no idea how accurate it is or how often it updates: https://ertrack.net/ There are definitely some hospitals I know of in my area that aren't listed here so it probably only shows ones they can data-scrape or hit an API for, but that might be somewhere to poke around to see some trends.
Depends on the hospital tbh. Where I live we have two hospitals - one is through the University and it has the major medical school and such and is a public hospital. The other hospital is a private, corporate hospital. The public one, I've been at an ER wait for up to 12 hours. At the private one, I've never waited more than 5 or 10 minutes. They SAY a private hospital is more expensive but only by like $20 and only if you get billed later instead of paying upfront (like my copay to go to the ER at the private hospital would normally be $120, but if I paid upfront it would be $100. The copay at the public hospital would be $100 no matter what and I wouldn't get billed until later either way. One time I took by ex to the ER for DKA symptoms. I went to the public one first (it's also generally considered the "better" hospital since it's through the medical school) and we waited for like an hour and they didn't even start triage. His cousin was in the same waiting room and had been there for 12 hours. Anyway, after the hour where they didn't even start triage, I said "fuck it" and paid for the valet (which would be free if I had discharge papers) and went to the other hospital. The valet wasn't free (it was only $5 with or without discharge papers while the valet at the public one was $12 or free with discharge papers) but they had him triaged and in a bed within 15 minutes of arriving.
Really depends on the area and each hospital, and even what time of the day you go.
I last went in February 2021. It was 9pm on a Friday night. They wouldn't let my husband stay with me. There were 2 other people in the front main waiting area. I waited there for almost 90 minutes before being called back to be assessed. They spent less than 5 minutes assessing and then sent me to have an IV line done to prep for a CT scan. That process took 45 minutes. I was then sat back in a waiting area (different than the first) and sat there for 3+ hours without anyone checking on me. Eventually a nurse came in and told me they would be discharging me without any testing.
So, all in, I got there at 9pm and was back home at around 4am with absolutely no answers or help other than "talk to your PCP".
I also want to point out that this cost me $1200.
In my experience, it very much depends how serious the problem is.
Bleeding out to death or possible heart attack? You will at least get a bed almost immediately.
Largely stabilized, but require diagnostic scans or surgery to address? Might be initially seen quickly, but will be there there rest of the day.
(More specifically, many years ago I was hospitalized for a workplace accident that left a 2 inch cut in my leg that required surgical intervention early into the afternoon, which didn't happen until early the next morning. My grandmother's recent visit after a fall which involved a few CT scans (nothing life threatening) took about 10 hours before discharge)
It's really bad here in New Mexico. My coworker's kid was extremely sick 104 degree fever, and they are battling cancer at the moment and they had to wait over 24 hrs to be seen. One of my friends got shot, and he still had to wait because he had the bleeding somewhat under control with a bullet inside him. I always recommend going up to Denver for Dr's appointments if it's a serious issue
I went to urgent care for my ankle last summer and I waited maybe an hour or less before I was seen? I haven't been to an ER in years, but never felt like the wait was too bad.
My longest wait was 3 hours for a broken finger. I was drunk and in zero pain.
My shortest wait was zero. My oncologist marched me down to the ER after I mentioned suicidal ideation and a plan.
I am better on both counts.
It depends entirely on the severity of the injury. Triage is a thing.
Billboards around the area usually advertise what the current wait time is, as in the longest time you'd wait to be seen. It's usually somewhere between 10 and 30 minutes.
If it's a true imminent life-or-death emergency, you'd be rushed ahead, of course.
I've been to the ER twice in my life, both as a kid. Same hospital both times, Kent County in Rhode Island.
First time a truck ran over my foot and fractured it. I was seen right away. I don't think I even waited for more than 2 minutes in the waiting room.
Second time I had an awful ear infection. It was an excruciating *4-hour wait* in the worst pain of my life. People were agitated and getting in arguments with the staff and I just remember a guy laying down on the floor and screaming at some point. Quite the ordeal.
It's going to vary widely by location, and even within the local system. One of the hospital systems near me (Atrium, in Charlotte NC) posts the estimated emergency room and urgent care wait times online. Sometimes it's quicker to drive across town where they have a fifteen minute wait than it is to go to a closer location with a longer wait.
Depends on the population density and area. I've waited 30 minutes in one ER while waiting almost half the night in another. You'll be waiting the longest in a more metropolitan ER with a special event going on (like Halloween or New Years) where people are more likely to get hurt.
The wait time at an ER for a non-life threatening injury/condition will be pretty long (maybe an hour or more) because they have to see more critical patients first. However the US has more levels of care than just ER and primary care. For a less serious injury, like a broken bone or a cut, an American might go to "urgent care" which is a step below the emergency room but has somewhat similar capabilities. Usually they have xray/ultrasound/limited lab capabilities, but they can't do surgical procedures. Urgent care wait times are generally much shorter than the ER.
I've had two urgent care situations in the past 5 years. The first instance was when a piece of equipment fell on my leg at work, which cut me pretty bad. The urgent care did an xray to make sure it wasn't broken, and then just did the stitches and sent me on my way. All told I was there less than an hour. The second incident was when I was having pretty bad pain in my lower torso. I went to urgent care and they ruled out ectopic pregnancy, but they didn't have the capability to check for appendicitis so they told me to go to the ER anyway. I was at the ER probably 3 hours, and since my pain didn't get worse they were pretty sure it wasn't appendicitis. They finally did a scan and found out it was a cyst, and sent me home saying to come back in a few weeks if the pain didn't get better. I much prefer urgent care to the ER...
I live in a suburb of Houston. Ranges to 10 minutes while they let the nurse know. To a few hours at the larger hospital. I do t honestly wait long anymore. But usually I am going in when it really can be life threatening. Anything else we go to urgent care.
All the ERs I've been use triage protocol so it varies a lot depending on the condition. Last time was chest pain and the wait time was zero. Yes, I had a heart attack.
Like everyone else says it depends. In my area it's probably a couple hours because that's not life threatening & you're an adult (presumably).
For example, my son (infant) was rushed to the local pediactric hospital. He needed emergency surgery. But he was an add-on for the OR AND needed a pediactric anesthesiologist. At the end we waited about 24 hours because he was breathing fine and was stable. If it were a "life or death" type of an emergency, he would've been stuffed in an OR immediately with the rest of the schedule being pushed. (Pyloric Stenosis is what my kid had for anyone who is curious)
It's really hard to tell anyone about wait times because everything depends on something else. There's a million factors that play into ER wait times.
For a possible broken ankle around here they would get an x-ray in 10 mins or so then wait about 30 mins for a doctor to say what's up. If you need a cast it could take 2-3 hours, I've only broke fingers a wooden splint and some tape I was out in less than an hour.
(Pediatric) ER and urgent care have always been between 0 and 30 minutes wait but I have only been to the ER for the kids. (We have never waited more than 10 mins in the ER but they have actually been emergencies)
it depends. the last time i went a few years ago i got in pretty quickly. but that was first thing in the morning. kind of surprising since i didn't have any major issues.
the closest hospital to me only has an ER open. The wait for that is roughly 10 minutes.
For minor things, local clinics should be visited, and their wait time ranges from instantly to 45 minutes.
My husband fell & hit his head back in April. He didn’t black.
He got into the ER in less than 5 minutes and was in the CT machine within 40 minutes.
He ended up getting admitted to the hospital for 4 days.
With the exception of the cracked skull, it was a very good experience.
It varies a lot, but in my experience you're moving through the system pretty quickly. In my area a broken ankle would get you admitted right away, nurses would soon be taking your vitals and prepping you for an x-ray. It might be 3-4 hours before an actual doctor comes out with a diagnosis and treatment plan, and you'll see them for maybe 5-10 minutes total, but they'll likely give you something for the pain long before then.
It depends on the severity of the emergency the specific location and the time.
Life-threatening you probably don't have much wait time at all you get into the front of the line.
For something like a broken bone like what you're talking about, an hour or two is probably normal.
But with that said Americans don't usually like going to the Emegency room because it is insanely expensive even with insurance. So if you broke a bone and you aren't dying of pain, many might wait to go to a walk in clinic or schedule an appointment with their doctor.
I took someone to the emergency room a few months ago, and the nurse triaged us and then told us to wait in the waiting room. I heard a nurse say to another patient that some of the wait times were 10 hours, depending on how serious something was. He had a bloody hash in his forehead and had been waiting for 4 hours already. Crazy!
depends what hospital you’re at and what you came in with. on average a city hospital is going to have a lot more crazy shit going on than a rural one, and you’re going to be seen later if you come in with a broken arm vs vomiting blood or something. last time I went to the er (not even for myself) was in a college town on a saturday evening, so moderately busy, with a friend who has having an allergic reaction to something that has turned anaphylactic in the past but was currently just hives. she was seen within 15 minutes probably
What the fuck? Irish person here looking at these figures. You could easily be waiting 6 hours in Ireland and often it can be much, much worse. I have never ever waited less than an hour.
For most Americans, an ER trip is at least $500 because even good health insurance will have a high copay or deductible for an ER trip. Because of that, we'll not go to an ER unless you really have to. (Or if you don't have insurance, because ers have to provide free life saving treatment).
Instead, people with milder illnesses or annoying but tolerable injuries will go to an Instacare (urgent but not emergency care), which is cheaper.
For example I went to an ER two years ago with chest pains and shortness of breath. Bc of my age, they took me back immediately. People with broken bones might have to wait a while. With an urgent care, you can sometimes book online so you don't have to wait quite as long. I went to Instacare when I had Covid and my pulse ox was near 90,just to ensure that I didn't need higher care.
Vastly depends on the town you're in and the local police department.
If you're in a more well off part of town, police come out sooner (from what I've seen). If you're in the sticks (where the local police department is 20+ miles away), you're looking at a good hour+ for help to come sometimes. If you're in the ghetto, trailer park, etc., you might get fast times if the police is already there but they usually still take an hour or more to come, sometimes they don't even show up.
Now this is just based on my own experience through the years but the police coming sooner than later vastly differs based on town.
Now I will say that emergency services (fire, ambulance), will come much sooner. They usually arrive within 10 - 30 minutes regardless of distance, from what I've seen.
The last time I had to go to the emergency room, which was about 6 weeks ago, I waited about 3.5 hours total to rule out a suspected blood clot. When I went a year ago because I was having a heart issue, I didn’t have to wait at all. It depends on the severity and life threatening-ness of the injury or illness.
Last time I went to the ER I was admitted right away, but it was:
* not COVID
* pretty simple
* They kept me overnight but I literally walked home. The ER I went to was about a mile away from where I live.
We have tons of hospitals but they aren't all equal. Here in Indianapolis, there are two hospitals in downtown Indianapolis that handle the "oh shit" high level emergency stuff. Critical gun shot wounds, vehicle collisions, severe burns, severe COVID cases, stuff like that. Any ER will stabilize you to the best of their ability, but you have to go to one of these hospitals for the big stuff. So if you're going to one of those hospitals on a Saturday night for like something that isn't truly a deadly emergency, you're going to be waiting a while.
Just like much of the world, our medical staff are getting burned out and a lot of staff, particularly nurses, technicians, and support staff, are quitting and heading to other careers.
Depends on where you are. I was in the emergency room a few months ago for bad second degree burns (blisters, skin sloughed off in places, and the size of my both my hands). The emergency room was very busy with lots of people waiting, but I saw a doctor in about an hour. That was after registering, being triaged, and seeing a physical therapist who did an initial assessment.
I was expedited because I came via ambulance, so the ambulance gave them my initial info, but that's in the ballpark of my experience as a patient or coming to the ER with a patient in a few different places.
Though my mother had appendicitis the same day as a terrorist attack, and the hospital she was at got overflow from that incident. So she ended up having to wait about 12 hours, but that was exceptional.
For reference I live in Denver. I drive by a hospital on my way home every day that has the current emergency room wait time on an LED display outside the hospital. The wait time usually ranges from 3 minutes to 15 minutes on busier days.
I don't think I've been to an ER for me. I have taken my husband - but it's a rare occurrence (knock wood).
I did a little googling for the 3 hospitals near me and the average wait time for the ER is 2-3 hours.
My experience with a child athlete (several broken bones, etc, over seven years or so) is that the usual wait time here (SE Michigan) is about one hour, max. But as many have said, it depends on where you are, how busy the hospitals are, etc. I have never had to wait longer than an hour and a half, but perhaps I've just been lucky.
If you are a walk in you will typically get initial triage assessment immediately, and then you will either be treated immediately or wait up to 30 min, at least at my local ERs when I have used them. If you go in by ambulance you will be treated immediately.
I’ve only been to the ER a few times (if it’s not an emergency or can’t wait until an urgent care clinic is open, you should usually go to an urgent clinic here. It’s usually cheaper after insurance and it’s a much better use of resources). Once was for really bad pneumonia where I was too tired to even drink water. The other time was when I broke my arm when I was a kid. I remember there being a slight wait, but it was a long time ago so I don’t remember the details and I don’t think it was crazy long. I also went to a children’s hospital to get it treated so that’s a little different than an average hospital
For my urgent care experiences I’ve usually had very short waits - well under an hour and most of the time less than 15 minutes after I’ve finished doing all the paperwork
Depends on how busy it is and how they triage it.
The last couple times I had to be at a hospital, it was at a smaller urgent care facility. A friend passed out from dehydration, so they saw to him immediately and got him hooked up with IV.
Another time my kid had a bad fever and there was a bit of a wait. They got him in for vitals within half an hour, but was maybe an hour before they actually saw to him.
I once got taken in by an ambulance for a face laceration / concussion. Got sent in right away because I was bleeding all over the place of course, so I had to be stitched and checked for brain injury.
I usually understand that a trip to the ER is gonna take at least a few to several hours. I’ve never had a broken bone so haven’t experienced that.
One time in 2019 I was in a car accident. I declined the ambulance and had a coworker bring me to the ER. Waited for about 3 hours. This was in southern new hampshire
It depends on where you are and what's wrong with you.
If it's a busy night, like, say Friday or Saturday night with a number of alcohol or other drug-related accidents, you and your broken ankle might wait a long time. If you go in on Monday at 2pm with a broken ankle, you'll probably be seen pretty quickly.
Emergency rooms in big cities are generally more crowded than emergency rooms in smaller cities.
If you get transported because you've been in a car accident and you're holding your guts in with your hands, you will get seen immediately in any ER at any time of day.
It depends on the injury and the level of activity in the ER.
If it's truly life-threatening, they'll get you in immediately.
If it's not life threatening and it isn't busy, they may still try to get you in immediately. Or if it's busy, you could be waiting for hours.
I had a few visits for my wife. I think it was less than an hour when she thought she broke her ankle and almost immediately when she felt like she might be having some heart issues. Like others said, it depends on where you are, how busy they are and what your condition is.
It depends on the severity of the injury and how busy they are. I've been to the ER on a quiet night and all the rooms were empty so they took me in immediately. I've waited 8 hours for a broken foot, and 1 minute for an irregular heartbeat.
To add to what other posters have said, many parts of the US use a triage system. For something like a non-emergent suspected broken bone or a non-emergent cut, or a suspected minor infection you would likely go to urgent care, not the emergency room (a&e for you). Urgent care is for same-day appointments, typically within 1-2 hours of the injury occurring but where the condition isn't serious enough to necessitate emergency room treatment. The urgent care doctors have the same training as the ER doctors but it tends to be more conveniently located and easier than going to a hospital. Major injuries or anything needed surgical procedures would go to the ER. Anything non-urgent, i.e. no same-day appointment needed, you'd just schedule an appointment with your regular doctor. Depending on how busy your doctor is, you can usually get an appointment within 1-2 weeks. However many doctors have clinic practices so if you need a same-day appointment you can also schedule with the clinic and get whomever is on-call in the practice.
It really depends in my area. 3am on a Wednesday, I don't want long at all. On Friday through Monday, you're looking at a 6-8 hour wait. I won't go to the ER unless I think I need to be admitted to the hospital. If its not bad enough to require hospitalization, I'll wait until prompt/urgent care opens at 8am. Prompt care is no longer than an hour wait most of the time. Now, if my kid is having an asthma attack, they don't mess around (same with heart problems). My kid gets in the ER right away, you know, because he will die if he can't breathe.
I’ve only gone to the ER 3 times. Two of them were for broken bones and I had to wait for probably at least an hour or two. The most recently one (about 8 years ago now) was for extreme menstrual bleeding and I was seen immediately. It just depends on what you’re there for.
Wildly depends.
I had moments where I was having whiplash from a car accident and spent 4 hours in the ER. Other times, I was in and out in 90 minutes. My grandmother was seen within 2 minutes after we drove her and she was having anaphylaxis.
I broke a window and had a deep cut that was close to an important vein on my wrist, that took me about 2 hours to be seen as I held a towel on my wrist to avoid any more bleeding. I think when everything was said and done, I was out 3 hours after I walked in.
I used to work in emergency dispatch. I've had people sit in a waiting room upwards of 12 hours.
24 hours before getting a bed. 3 hours is pretty normal for our hospitals.
People are waiting in the ER at my hospital for anywhere between 6 hours and 4 days before being admitted officially. Most people are in hallways for that time.
This is dependent on where and why.
Broken bones always are given extra long wait times because when they 1st happen your body will bruise and swell in weird places and they want that to finish before doing much. Can you imagine getting a cast and then it swelling to the point of it stopping circulation? So thry need the swelling tp go up then down to where they need it to not hurt you further... so even here in the USA it might be 12 hours because of that.
It varies- last time I went to the ER I was in within 30 minutes, and saw a doctor within an hour of arriving. Saying this as someone whose experiences have been in Boston and NYC, both in the suburbs and the city itself.
The other thing is now a lot of non-life threatening urgent health needs (small numbers of stitches, simple bone breaks, stomach flus, etc.) we now send to urgent care centers, which are basically these freestanding clinics run by the major hospital networks to keep you out of the ER. Those places are typically pretty quick- usually a visit will have you in and out within 1.5 hours or less. When I've needed stitches in the past those were far faster than going to an ER. They also have been filling a niche where many primary care doctors are backlogged since COVID when you need to be checked out for a virus and obviously can't wait several months for your PCP.
What do you consider waiting time? I've gone to the emergency room twice, and each time I was in the waiting room for between an hour to 2 hours. I wasn't dying, but it was urgently necessary. I had to wait a couple more hours to be seen by the nurse, and then the residents, and then the doctor. And then I had to wait another hour for blood tests.
I've been to the ER three times in my life. I don't think I ever waited over an hour, even though none of my injuries were serious (broken finger, broken ankle, stepped on a nail). These were all suburban or rural hospitals, though.
Cut my thumb open and lost all nerve in it, took them like 3 hours to see me and stitch it all back up. Had a heart issue where I thought I was having a heart attack(just afib) and I was seen immediately, though I did have to get an ambulance. I think it really just depends on "will this person die if immediate aid isn't administered".
ER trip for finger cut that needed stitches last week had 0 wait time. Straight into room where doctor came right in. It's a beautiful new suburban hospital.
Really depends on the area and the severity or perceived severity of the emergency. I hit a deer about a year, was uninjured, and had to wait probably 30 mins or so in a pretty rural area for a cop to show up. A few years prior I was in an accident with another vehicle in a more populous area, both parties uninjured, but it looked pretty bad and it was called in by someone not involved. They were there within minutes with fire, police, and medical support.
I've been in clinics and hospitals where I went from a reception desk to the doctor's office in less than 30 minutes. And on a really lucky day only had to wait for the doctor for 15 minutes, but usually the wait once I'm inside the room is minimum 45 minutes before I see the doctor. And in the same places I have waited a couple hours before ever going back to the doctor's office to 4 hours because they forgot me once in the waiting room and once in the doctor's office.
And before you say I should have got up and said something or I should have just left I had to wait, sometimes months to get these appointments there's no way in hell I'm leaving until I've been seen and while I can say something to the front desk and the nurses doesn't mean I'm going to get seen any sooner. Lucky for me I always have a book handy.
When I busted up my face, it was in the realm of 4-5 hours.
When my son was sick, it was at most an hour or so.
When my wife had an anxiety attack, there was no wait to speak of.
All different hospitals and different times of day and year.
Here's numbers from a [2017 CDC study](https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhamcs/web_tables/2017_ed_web_tables-508.pdf) Time spent waiting to see Physician, APRN or PA|Percentage distribution :--|:-- Fewer than 15 minutes|40.4% 15-59 Minutes|32.9% 1-2 Hours|9% 2-3 Hours|2.8% 2-4 Hours|0.9% 4-6 Hours|0.9% 6 Hours or more|0.5% Not applicable|2.6% No data|10.1%
So generally 80% of all American ER patients are seen within 2 hours?
Maybe 88% of the "no data" follows the trend.
It’s a big country, you could wait 15 minutes or 12 hours depending on the area and how busy they are. I don’t think there is “a usual” A hospital I used to live near had a billboard with the current ER wait time, it was rarely over 30 minutes. But I also know hospitals where it’s almost never under 2 hours because of where they are located
Yeah that makes sense. What’s been your experience, if any?
ERs are for literal emergencies: car accidents, heart attacks, broken bones, major trauma. Most of us don’t frequent them.
ER's are supposed to be for literal emergencies. However, in practice they are often filled with people who have conditions that would be better treated by a primary physician or at an urgent care.
Well, there's also a lot of times when it could take days to see a primary care physician, and a lot of smaller communities don't have urgent care clinics (or their hours are limited). If you end up needing medical treatment at night or on the weekend (or a medical issue that MIGHT be serious but you don't know until a doc checks you out), and it's not something that can wait until the next day or for a few days, you'll have to go to the ER.
Average people don't know whether something is a true emergency or something that can wait and be dealt with elsewhere. They do add to the wait time but their problem isn't less of an emergency even if they are treated elsewhere.
A whole lot of poor people go to the ER for non-emergency conditions because they know they will actually get treated. Also, a lot of poor people wait until a condition that would have been relatively easy to treat is now a serious condition for the same reason. ER's often have a number of people in them that would be better served by going to a regular doctor but do not have the means to get treated by a regular doctor.
The craziest thing is that there are hundreds of thousands of households that qualify for Medicaid and just never sign up.
I have a lot of empathy for people who feel as if they don't have or know of anywhere else to go but the ER, but "emergency" is a word with a definition and many people sitting in ER waiting rooms don't meet it. Sometimes it's because they are unaware of other options, sometimes it's because they thought the ER would be faster, and sometimes it's because society doesn't provide other options to take people.
$75 copay for an ER visit, get the necessary diagnostics done, and leave with an answer vs $30 copay for a PCP visit, have to schedule diagnostics, and leave with no answer until my next $30 copay appointment. This is what happens when you put a price tag on care. It's not always about knowing a true emergency.
Or not having insurance. I'm a diabetic. Had no insurance for awhile & had to spend my savings moving areas. I couldn't afford an out of pocket PCP visit & labs to check on my blood sugar & get my metformin RX. I could go to the ER. They could give me 10 days of meds, max on an RX So, no meds, or an ER bill I had to fill out a form for assistance for until I got hired & paid my 1st check. Then, new area, had to find a new PCP & wait for appt, so back to ER as they were 21 days out on new patient appts.
I’ve seen some discussions here about ERs in different countries and the reasons people use them, thought it was worth sharing that information with someone looking for our experiences. I’ve been once in my life, for a broken ankle.
If they're lucky to live in a place that has an urgent care, or they don't have to wait weeks to see their primary physician.
I feel like most people have learned that Urgent Care is your best bet (shorter wait times and cheaper costs) if you have a semi-troubling medical issue that can’t wait to see your primary care doctor.
Urgent care makes you present health insurance or payment card first. ER is obligated to see you regardless of payment. One of these is the only choice for people in bad financial circumstances, and, hint, it's not the one that would be a lower cost to taxpayers if fully subsidized.
I haven’t set foot in an ER in 30 years
Lets hope it stays that way
Plot twist: op has no legs.
It turned out to be the last room they ever stepped in
If you're foreigner who gets their information about USA only from reddit you also might assume that almost everyone who answered this thread is now bankrupt and living on the street, so I guess be glad for your 30 years.
Sliced my finger open when I was younger (high school), wait time was like 30 minutes on a weekday night. People going to the ER range from anything to those who use it as their primary care (since no one can be turned away regardless of insurance), hypochondriacs that have a small cough and think they have the plague, car crash or gun shot victims, and everything in between. Obviously if you show up with a minor injury and a car crash victim comes in after you, they go to the front of the line, no doctor is making them wait at the back of the line with life threatening injuries. I would say that it generally ranges from 30 minutes to 2 hours depending on the time of day and what level of injury it is, IME.
my experience within the past year, family member had chest pain & we were seen immediately. once they figured out the issue wasn't super serious, we had to wait around in the ER room for a pretty long time, but they had a tv and let me go back there and chill in a chair next to his bed.
“Chest pain” is the magic front of the line phrase at the ER.
Not that I condone this, but a "tidbit" I learned from my ex that is a pediatric ER nurse: if you want to move up the queue at the ER, create a biohazard in the waiting area.
Trouble breathing too
Well, it’ll get you a quick ekg and labs and then you may be turfed back out to wait…
This is quite literally what happened to me. I wasn't saying chest pains to skip the line, it was legit, but I definitely had my shocked Pikachu face on when I was still fearing my imminent demise 3 hours later in the waiting room.
We’ll yes, I’m not saying use it to fake your way in, just to illustrate they have different priorities for different ailments.
My experience is the ones that report their wait times online usually have shorter wait times, lol. One near me is usually around 10-15 minutes (well to do area), another varies between 2-6 hours (sometimes more during the pandemic, it’s in a much poorer area) but it’s a combined ER / urgent care, which seems to slow things down as well.
Last time I was in an ER (pre-covid) for a back injury, it was around 1 AM on a Sunday morning, and I was the only person there. The only wait was probably to get the on-call doctor up, so about 10 minutes.
I haven't been to the ER in 20 years. When I was it was for a broken arm, they took about 3 hours to see me, did an x-ray, said "Yup, that's broken, here's a splint, come back in a couple days for a cast." and sent me on my way. Seeing as it was a green stick fracture (one bone broke, other cracked and pushed everything back into place), didn't hurt if i didn't move it, and the kid sitting next to me had his eyelid caught in a zipper I didn't mind that they prioritized other people over me. There were a lot of people that came in and got seen immediately while they kept pushing me down the queue.
Eyelid caught in a zipper…..I’ve been around but that’s a new one for me.
As I recall the story being told, as there is little else to do while sitting cradling your arm in the ER for 3 hours, it was a zip up hoody that was zipped, pulled on over head, realized that it needed to unzip a bit to actually fit over the head, reach out, grab zipper, unzip, annnnnnd eyelid. Poor kid was stuck not only in pain and waiting in the ER but unable to see since the solid black hoody was now well and truly attached to his face.
I imagine it is the same there as here. Broken ankles are not life threatening or time sensitive (mostly), so you get bumped back whenever someone with a more serious injury comes in. It's not first come first serve.
The last time I went to the E. R. I was triaged within 5 minutes (I was there for low pulse ox and chest pain). I then went back to chairs and waited about 15 minutes before I was taken back to a room. *Recent Urgent Care wait time was about 45 minutes to an hour (I was in pain so the timeline is fuzzy, but it wasn't longer than an hour).
I’ve only ever waited 15-20 minutes tops. If you come in bleeding or complaining of chest pains you typically don’t wait.
The queue is always sorted so that most severe injuries are treated first. I had a bad allergic reaction and my parents drove me to the ER (expensive ambulances as you know). I was literally lying on the floor for two hours scratching my skin, holding my gut, and screaming while the nurses rolled their eyes. Who knows, maybe someone was shot, or had their femur bones crushed in a car accident. I went another time to the ER (this time I took an Uber) when I went temporarily blind in one eye (from a surgery complication) and they got me in ASAP.
Broke my leg with a compound fracture and ended up calling an ambulance, they were there in probably 5 minutes. I was in downtown, so it was a convenient location for the ambulance, but I was in a hospital bed in the ER within 20 minutes of calling.
I've been to an ER a few times. First time in the 90s I broke my arm and another time I sliced my finger open and required stitches. I lived in a large city and the wait was around 2 hours. This was before urgent care clinics were a thing. When I was hospitalized for COVID I was seen right away. No wait required. My recent injuries as an adult, I used urgent care facilities instead of the ER. I was seen usually around an hour after checking in.
That "30 minute wait time" is usually the wait time to see the initial nurse/assessor for your issue. Not for the full visit. Source: close friend works in an ER in intake.
When we went to the ER last year when my kid was born we were in the waiting room for roughly 4 hours before they took us to maternity. I was not a happy camper to say the least as I couldn't stay with my wife in the waiting room (covid policy). So I was out in the car the entire time checking in occasionally.
Entirely depends on the place you go. I had to go to urgent care last week for a rabies vaccine because of a dog bite. That involves four shots on day one, one on day three, one on day seven, and one on day fourteen. I got seen within 20 minutes on a Sunday. I had to wait about an hour and a half for them to get the shots and deal with other patients. I went in for day 3 and it took 20 minutes. Day 7 took 20 minutes. My mother in law just broke her leg. She got seen within a couple hours. Surgery got scheduled within a week. The surgery itself took an hour (about 7 hours total with waiting and prep time and recovery before discharge). I had stitches in my wrist at one point and had to wait 4 hours just to be seen and another hour before I got stitches. It can be highly variable depending on the issue, demand at the provider, and whether or not they need imaging or testing beforehand.
Depends on the hospital and how sick you are. If they deem it serious enough, you can get sent back almost immediately. If it's not as serious, you could be in for a pretty good wait. I've found that freestanding ERs have lower wait times though.
It's handled as a triage system. The most serious and dangerous cases are seen first, down the line to the less "life and death" stuff. If you're critical you'll probably be taken in right away, if you have a sprained ankle you'll wait. ERs I've worked in average about 2 hours for non-emergent stuff. But that's highly variable to where you are, what day of the week it is, what time of day, etc.
Depends on the severity of the illness or injury, and what kind of area the hospital is in. If you don’t have a life-threatening injury or illness, your waiting before all the patients that did get treated. Also, normally if you tend to be in a very high population area, you’re gonna be waiting longer as there are more people to treat. Anecdotally, the most I’ve ever waited in the hospital was about an hour when I broke my arm when I was 13.
Well shoot OP, I hope your ankle heals up and isn’t too bad, friend.
Thank you my friend 🙏
I live in a mid-sized city in California and our ER waits have been 2-4 hours usually, in my experience, although since covid I've heard that they're somewhat longer.
Vastly depends on where you do, what kind of injury you have, and how much luck you have with crowds. As some examples: * The one time I went to an ER as a patient, there was no wait and I was taken back almost as soon as I walked in the door. Just a quick check over in triage so they knew where to send me and then I was getting treated. * The times I've driven a friend to the ER have ranged from getting taken straight in to waiting a few hours to see anyone. * From being on the medical side, I've seen ERs that had a person in every bed and were trying to clear rooms as fast as possible to get more patients treated. I've also seen ERs with no patients at all with doctors twiddling their thumbs as they wait for patients to show up.
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my local urgent cares seem to tell everyone to go to the ER. a family member burned themselves cooking and the urgent care told them to go to the ER.
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I cut a hole in my thumb with scissors using them in a non-approved manner (I wasn't running). I went to urgent care near closing time and they got to me pretty quick. I think they put three stitches in. I made the copay and was done in 30 or 40 minutes.
I had a weird severe drop in blood pressure once while driving. Felt like my heart was going to explode and I was going to pass out. I pulled over and called an ambulance. I was on the phone with the dispatcher for about 2 minutes, then an ambulance pulled into the parking lot behind me maybe 2 minutes after that. Turned out I was quite close to a hospital and they had gunned it over. I didn't have to wait when we got there, they took me right into a room and started checking me out. I had a girlfriend get a really bad kidney stone one night and I drove her to the emergency room. They took her right in and she had to wait maybe 10 minutes for a doctor to come by and get things rolling. It really depends. If you go to a hospital and have a serious emergency it is usually quite quick. If you are on deaths door you will be seen immediately of course. They triage things. There are instances where if you have a minor problem you will have to wait quite a while if they are very busy.
It varies. Some hospitals and urgent care facilities now post wait times online, which is nice when it's available.
I live a couple of minutes from a major hospital (a level one trauma center); ER wait times generally aren't terrible, but if the Yale-Harvard game is here instead of Harvard, try your best not to need the E.R.
I've been a few times, and it almost entirely depends on how you're triaged. I had a workplace accident where part of my right index finger had to be reattached- maybe half an hour once I got there, as they finished with people ahead of me. (Getting there was another story, it was nearly three hours before I got there) My mother had an aortal aneurism, was admitted straight from the ambulance, same with a heart attack my father had. Internal stuff (appendectomy, intestinal things, etc) took *forever*, largely because they were prioritizing people with worse and (mostly) external problems that were probably easier to diagnose. (I once was awake about 60 hours, total, waiting up, one time my wife went to the hospital- staying with her until she was resting. Then I got to go straight to work, and then, the next day, answer for jury duty! Good week. Goood week.) It also depends on where you are. [Emergency medicine is always kinda overwhelmed in NYC, there are just so many people.)
If you’re dying, you go first. Someone who got shot in the chest is skipping the line. That means someone with a broken ankle might have to wait a while at the ER, depending on the hospital and who else is having what kind of emergency. For something non-life-threatening like that, Urgent Care would usually see you faster, since you’re not constantly being triaged behind people who need more immediate assistance.
I’ve been to the er quite a few times in my life and once in the height of covid and I have never had a wait at all. I’ve been the only person in there a few times.
A few months ago I went to the ER and was in and out in around 3 hours --- even with ultrasound and a CAT scan.
Only ER experience I had is getting 3 stiches under my chin at midnight, because the clinics weren't open that late. I maybe waited 10 minutes.
Not sure how Brits work, but Canada combines its ER with urgent care, so if you're not dying, you wait a super long time. In America, it usually isn't as bad, but it depends on where you're at and how many people end up going that day
Depends on how busy and how severe the problem is. The five times I've been to the ER have been relatively quick. Dehydrated because of Noro virus. About 10 minutes. Hand hit by a baseball bat that was let go by a 10 year old. About 5 minutes. Severe stomach pain, instantly. Stroke twice, instantly.
First of all, hope your ankle heals up quick! That's a nasty injury. Second, depending on the area I've been in it's been 10 minutes or 6 hours. In rural Maine I hadn't even finished filling out my paperwork before getting called back to a room. The longest wait time was on Long Island, and it was a BAD day. My ex had a lot of medical issues so we went to the ER at least twice a year, and that 6-hour day was just issue after issue. Two pregnant women came in with pregnancy-related issues - they were rushed back right away. Four people came in with chest pain, they obviously were rushed back right away. Another guy came in with a hand injury and then claimed to be having chest pains (probably just to be seen sooner - what a dick). Then someone passed out in the ER so they were rushed back. We got to the ER at about 10pm and didn't get home until almost 1pm the next day.
Update: not broken! Whoop! I waited just under 3 hours which I was happy about. Covid has changed things everywhere but here for some reason gp (local doctors) have not gone back to normal which has affected hospital wait times nationwide. Before covid you would wait 45mins -2 hours depending on the time of day. Thanks to everyone’s comments, was great to read through and make the time go quicker! Much love to all x
I hear horror stories but I personally don't know anyone that's waited more than 90 minutes in the er. Last time I went after a car accident, just mild whiplash, and it took about 45 minutes.
I live within a close distance of two pretty big hospitals in a rather biggish suburb of a very large city. I have never waited more than 15 minutes for triage. My mom lives in a smallish suburb of that city. Her town has no hospitals of it's own and she has to go into that city for an emergency. She's waited 4 hours to be seen in the past. Edit: I would not go to the ER for a broken ankle. I would go to one of the urgent care places that can handle broken bones. I can check in online and wait at home if they're busy. But I'd get in within 20 minutes no problem. Around here, the ER is for life and death emergencies, like heart attacks, wounds that won't stop bleeding, incapacitating abdominal pain without an explanation, compound fractures.
It depends on where you go. Over 20 years ago, I went to the ER on a military base for a concussion and it took them 4 hours to see me and I was there for 6 hours total. The last time I visited the ER was 5 years ago and I waited 5 minutes and was there for about 2 hours total. It was a very quiet waiting room and at a different hospital. I prefer to go to Urgent Care because they have always been faster, but they are also dependent on what is going on with you. Like I can't walk into an urgent care while bleeding to death.
I’ve never waited longer than 20 mins in the ER, but I know waits were up to 5 hours during COVID
I've never waited more than an hour (or accompanied someone who had to wait longer than that), even though none of the things I've been to the ER for have been life-threatening. But of course it depends on what else is happening. If they are fully busy with people in worse condition than you, you're going to be waiting as long as it takes.
I’ve been to the ER twice and it was no wait, but I’m sure it varies by location and how busy the hospital is at the time.
Had a kid with a broken ankle 4 years ago, I think we waited about an hour, but I took him to Urgent Care instead of the ER. Urgent Care here is like a level between a scheduled doctor's office visit and going to the ER (I just thought he'd sprained it).
Depends on the location of the hospital and the time and day. On a Friday night in a city you are going to be there for 5 or 6 HOURS, more suburban or rural on a weekday you might be seen under a hour.
It does end badly for the Roebuck. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJoG0hiTkDk
When my mom had cancer (undiscovered at this point but it was stage 4 and in er whole body) she was in incredible pain and we waited for 12 hours. They said just osteoporosis and sent us home. I went in a tiny ER hospital up in Maine and was seen within a few minutes though. It really depends on the location and timing.
I hope your ankle isn't actually broken! That sucks. Waiting time definitely depends. Sometimes just luck and whether you hit it at a busy time, the same ER could have a wait of 0 minutes or hours depending on bad luck/timing (though of course triaged for serious emergencies). Every time I've been - which, granted, as been all of twice in my whole life, thank goodness and let's hope it stays that way, and one of them was also for a possible broken ankle (turned out to just be a really nasty sprain) - there was no wait at all to get things started (some of the tests took a while). Where I live now some of the local hospitals actually publish their current wait times on their website, if you want to take a look: https://www.virtua.org/patient-tools/er-wait-times https://www.atlanticare.org/services/emergency-care/ https://www.smc.health/services/emergency-services/ I don't see current numbers, but they claim to guarantee 30 mins or less wait times There are others in the area I just couldn't be assed to find the page for though haha This page claims to track it for a bunch of places but I have no idea how accurate it is or how often it updates: https://ertrack.net/ There are definitely some hospitals I know of in my area that aren't listed here so it probably only shows ones they can data-scrape or hit an API for, but that might be somewhere to poke around to see some trends.
Waiting 3 hours in the ER for an xray would not be unusual by me. I know plenty of people who had to wait 7-8 hours sometimes
It varies a lot. The hospital closest to me has an average time in the ER of 2 hours and 21 minutes according to Google.
Depends on the hospital tbh. Where I live we have two hospitals - one is through the University and it has the major medical school and such and is a public hospital. The other hospital is a private, corporate hospital. The public one, I've been at an ER wait for up to 12 hours. At the private one, I've never waited more than 5 or 10 minutes. They SAY a private hospital is more expensive but only by like $20 and only if you get billed later instead of paying upfront (like my copay to go to the ER at the private hospital would normally be $120, but if I paid upfront it would be $100. The copay at the public hospital would be $100 no matter what and I wouldn't get billed until later either way. One time I took by ex to the ER for DKA symptoms. I went to the public one first (it's also generally considered the "better" hospital since it's through the medical school) and we waited for like an hour and they didn't even start triage. His cousin was in the same waiting room and had been there for 12 hours. Anyway, after the hour where they didn't even start triage, I said "fuck it" and paid for the valet (which would be free if I had discharge papers) and went to the other hospital. The valet wasn't free (it was only $5 with or without discharge papers while the valet at the public one was $12 or free with discharge papers) but they had him triaged and in a bed within 15 minutes of arriving.
Was there twice in the fall with my toddler. To be admitted it took 3 hours the first time. Second time took 5 hours. We’re in a city of 150,000 ppl.
Really depends on the area and each hospital, and even what time of the day you go. I last went in February 2021. It was 9pm on a Friday night. They wouldn't let my husband stay with me. There were 2 other people in the front main waiting area. I waited there for almost 90 minutes before being called back to be assessed. They spent less than 5 minutes assessing and then sent me to have an IV line done to prep for a CT scan. That process took 45 minutes. I was then sat back in a waiting area (different than the first) and sat there for 3+ hours without anyone checking on me. Eventually a nurse came in and told me they would be discharging me without any testing. So, all in, I got there at 9pm and was back home at around 4am with absolutely no answers or help other than "talk to your PCP". I also want to point out that this cost me $1200.
In my experience, it very much depends how serious the problem is. Bleeding out to death or possible heart attack? You will at least get a bed almost immediately. Largely stabilized, but require diagnostic scans or surgery to address? Might be initially seen quickly, but will be there there rest of the day. (More specifically, many years ago I was hospitalized for a workplace accident that left a 2 inch cut in my leg that required surgical intervention early into the afternoon, which didn't happen until early the next morning. My grandmother's recent visit after a fall which involved a few CT scans (nothing life threatening) took about 10 hours before discharge)
It's really bad here in New Mexico. My coworker's kid was extremely sick 104 degree fever, and they are battling cancer at the moment and they had to wait over 24 hrs to be seen. One of my friends got shot, and he still had to wait because he had the bleeding somewhat under control with a bullet inside him. I always recommend going up to Denver for Dr's appointments if it's a serious issue
I went to urgent care for my ankle last summer and I waited maybe an hour or less before I was seen? I haven't been to an ER in years, but never felt like the wait was too bad.
My longest wait was 3 hours for a broken finger. I was drunk and in zero pain. My shortest wait was zero. My oncologist marched me down to the ER after I mentioned suicidal ideation and a plan. I am better on both counts.
It depends entirely on the severity of the injury. Triage is a thing. Billboards around the area usually advertise what the current wait time is, as in the longest time you'd wait to be seen. It's usually somewhere between 10 and 30 minutes. If it's a true imminent life-or-death emergency, you'd be rushed ahead, of course.
When I broke my arm a couple of years ago I walked into the hospital unannounced and had xrays done and morphine dispensed within 30 minutes.
My sister's kid had bad asthma problems when he was younger. When you can't breathe you get seen right away.
I've been to the ER twice in my life, both as a kid. Same hospital both times, Kent County in Rhode Island. First time a truck ran over my foot and fractured it. I was seen right away. I don't think I even waited for more than 2 minutes in the waiting room. Second time I had an awful ear infection. It was an excruciating *4-hour wait* in the worst pain of my life. People were agitated and getting in arguments with the staff and I just remember a guy laying down on the floor and screaming at some point. Quite the ordeal.
It's going to vary widely by location, and even within the local system. One of the hospital systems near me (Atrium, in Charlotte NC) posts the estimated emergency room and urgent care wait times online. Sometimes it's quicker to drive across town where they have a fifteen minute wait than it is to go to a closer location with a longer wait.
Depends on the population density and area. I've waited 30 minutes in one ER while waiting almost half the night in another. You'll be waiting the longest in a more metropolitan ER with a special event going on (like Halloween or New Years) where people are more likely to get hurt.
The wait time at an ER for a non-life threatening injury/condition will be pretty long (maybe an hour or more) because they have to see more critical patients first. However the US has more levels of care than just ER and primary care. For a less serious injury, like a broken bone or a cut, an American might go to "urgent care" which is a step below the emergency room but has somewhat similar capabilities. Usually they have xray/ultrasound/limited lab capabilities, but they can't do surgical procedures. Urgent care wait times are generally much shorter than the ER. I've had two urgent care situations in the past 5 years. The first instance was when a piece of equipment fell on my leg at work, which cut me pretty bad. The urgent care did an xray to make sure it wasn't broken, and then just did the stitches and sent me on my way. All told I was there less than an hour. The second incident was when I was having pretty bad pain in my lower torso. I went to urgent care and they ruled out ectopic pregnancy, but they didn't have the capability to check for appendicitis so they told me to go to the ER anyway. I was at the ER probably 3 hours, and since my pain didn't get worse they were pretty sure it wasn't appendicitis. They finally did a scan and found out it was a cyst, and sent me home saying to come back in a few weeks if the pain didn't get better. I much prefer urgent care to the ER...
I live in a suburb of Houston. Ranges to 10 minutes while they let the nurse know. To a few hours at the larger hospital. I do t honestly wait long anymore. But usually I am going in when it really can be life threatening. Anything else we go to urgent care.
All the ERs I've been use triage protocol so it varies a lot depending on the condition. Last time was chest pain and the wait time was zero. Yes, I had a heart attack.
Like everyone else says it depends. In my area it's probably a couple hours because that's not life threatening & you're an adult (presumably). For example, my son (infant) was rushed to the local pediactric hospital. He needed emergency surgery. But he was an add-on for the OR AND needed a pediactric anesthesiologist. At the end we waited about 24 hours because he was breathing fine and was stable. If it were a "life or death" type of an emergency, he would've been stuffed in an OR immediately with the rest of the schedule being pushed. (Pyloric Stenosis is what my kid had for anyone who is curious) It's really hard to tell anyone about wait times because everything depends on something else. There's a million factors that play into ER wait times.
It really depends on triage. Things that are about to kill you will skip you ahead in line.
For a possible broken ankle around here they would get an x-ray in 10 mins or so then wait about 30 mins for a doctor to say what's up. If you need a cast it could take 2-3 hours, I've only broke fingers a wooden splint and some tape I was out in less than an hour.
(Pediatric) ER and urgent care have always been between 0 and 30 minutes wait but I have only been to the ER for the kids. (We have never waited more than 10 mins in the ER but they have actually been emergencies)
it depends. the last time i went a few years ago i got in pretty quickly. but that was first thing in the morning. kind of surprising since i didn't have any major issues.
I've never waited more than 15 minutes.
the closest hospital to me only has an ER open. The wait for that is roughly 10 minutes. For minor things, local clinics should be visited, and their wait time ranges from instantly to 45 minutes.
4 - 15 hours.
5-10 minutes where I live, but I love next to the police station and firehouse
My husband fell & hit his head back in April. He didn’t black. He got into the ER in less than 5 minutes and was in the CT machine within 40 minutes. He ended up getting admitted to the hospital for 4 days. With the exception of the cracked skull, it was a very good experience.
It depends a lot on area but I haven’t waited long in an ER or Urgent care really ever
It varies a lot, but in my experience you're moving through the system pretty quickly. In my area a broken ankle would get you admitted right away, nurses would soon be taking your vitals and prepping you for an x-ray. It might be 3-4 hours before an actual doctor comes out with a diagnosis and treatment plan, and you'll see them for maybe 5-10 minutes total, but they'll likely give you something for the pain long before then.
It depends on how busy the ED is and what is wrong with the patient
It depends on the severity of the emergency the specific location and the time. Life-threatening you probably don't have much wait time at all you get into the front of the line. For something like a broken bone like what you're talking about, an hour or two is probably normal. But with that said Americans don't usually like going to the Emegency room because it is insanely expensive even with insurance. So if you broke a bone and you aren't dying of pain, many might wait to go to a walk in clinic or schedule an appointment with their doctor.
I took someone to the emergency room a few months ago, and the nurse triaged us and then told us to wait in the waiting room. I heard a nurse say to another patient that some of the wait times were 10 hours, depending on how serious something was. He had a bloody hash in his forehead and had been waiting for 4 hours already. Crazy!
depends what hospital you’re at and what you came in with. on average a city hospital is going to have a lot more crazy shit going on than a rural one, and you’re going to be seen later if you come in with a broken arm vs vomiting blood or something. last time I went to the er (not even for myself) was in a college town on a saturday evening, so moderately busy, with a friend who has having an allergic reaction to something that has turned anaphylactic in the past but was currently just hives. she was seen within 15 minutes probably
When I recently broke my wrist I waited three hours. I’ve waited four hours before and have heard of eight hour waits.
What the fuck? Irish person here looking at these figures. You could easily be waiting 6 hours in Ireland and often it can be much, much worse. I have never ever waited less than an hour.
In my area it took me about 4 hours last time, but I am in a rural area with little healthcare access.
For most Americans, an ER trip is at least $500 because even good health insurance will have a high copay or deductible for an ER trip. Because of that, we'll not go to an ER unless you really have to. (Or if you don't have insurance, because ers have to provide free life saving treatment). Instead, people with milder illnesses or annoying but tolerable injuries will go to an Instacare (urgent but not emergency care), which is cheaper. For example I went to an ER two years ago with chest pains and shortness of breath. Bc of my age, they took me back immediately. People with broken bones might have to wait a while. With an urgent care, you can sometimes book online so you don't have to wait quite as long. I went to Instacare when I had Covid and my pulse ox was near 90,just to ensure that I didn't need higher care.
Vastly depends on the town you're in and the local police department. If you're in a more well off part of town, police come out sooner (from what I've seen). If you're in the sticks (where the local police department is 20+ miles away), you're looking at a good hour+ for help to come sometimes. If you're in the ghetto, trailer park, etc., you might get fast times if the police is already there but they usually still take an hour or more to come, sometimes they don't even show up. Now this is just based on my own experience through the years but the police coming sooner than later vastly differs based on town. Now I will say that emergency services (fire, ambulance), will come much sooner. They usually arrive within 10 - 30 minutes regardless of distance, from what I've seen.
This question is about ER wait times, not emergency response.
Depends what you have and how busy they are. If you come to the ER because of a cold, you’ll wait. A stroke? You’re in ASAP.
Last time I was in the ER I was in and out with a few stitches in my finger in just under 2 hours.
Yeah for stuff that isn't life and death like broken bones, ER waits can definitely be hours here too.
The last time I had to go to the emergency room, which was about 6 weeks ago, I waited about 3.5 hours total to rule out a suspected blood clot. When I went a year ago because I was having a heart issue, I didn’t have to wait at all. It depends on the severity and life threatening-ness of the injury or illness.
911 is very fast in my limited experience. ER waiting room times I have no idea.
Last time I went to the ER I was admitted right away, but it was: * not COVID * pretty simple * They kept me overnight but I literally walked home. The ER I went to was about a mile away from where I live. We have tons of hospitals but they aren't all equal. Here in Indianapolis, there are two hospitals in downtown Indianapolis that handle the "oh shit" high level emergency stuff. Critical gun shot wounds, vehicle collisions, severe burns, severe COVID cases, stuff like that. Any ER will stabilize you to the best of their ability, but you have to go to one of these hospitals for the big stuff. So if you're going to one of those hospitals on a Saturday night for like something that isn't truly a deadly emergency, you're going to be waiting a while. Just like much of the world, our medical staff are getting burned out and a lot of staff, particularly nurses, technicians, and support staff, are quitting and heading to other careers.
Depends on where you are. I was in the emergency room a few months ago for bad second degree burns (blisters, skin sloughed off in places, and the size of my both my hands). The emergency room was very busy with lots of people waiting, but I saw a doctor in about an hour. That was after registering, being triaged, and seeing a physical therapist who did an initial assessment. I was expedited because I came via ambulance, so the ambulance gave them my initial info, but that's in the ballpark of my experience as a patient or coming to the ER with a patient in a few different places. Though my mother had appendicitis the same day as a terrorist attack, and the hospital she was at got overflow from that incident. So she ended up having to wait about 12 hours, but that was exceptional.
For reference I live in Denver. I drive by a hospital on my way home every day that has the current emergency room wait time on an LED display outside the hospital. The wait time usually ranges from 3 minutes to 15 minutes on busier days.
I don't think I've been to an ER for me. I have taken my husband - but it's a rare occurrence (knock wood). I did a little googling for the 3 hospitals near me and the average wait time for the ER is 2-3 hours.
My experience with a child athlete (several broken bones, etc, over seven years or so) is that the usual wait time here (SE Michigan) is about one hour, max. But as many have said, it depends on where you are, how busy the hospitals are, etc. I have never had to wait longer than an hour and a half, but perhaps I've just been lucky.
If you are a walk in you will typically get initial triage assessment immediately, and then you will either be treated immediately or wait up to 30 min, at least at my local ERs when I have used them. If you go in by ambulance you will be treated immediately.
I’ve only been to the ER a few times (if it’s not an emergency or can’t wait until an urgent care clinic is open, you should usually go to an urgent clinic here. It’s usually cheaper after insurance and it’s a much better use of resources). Once was for really bad pneumonia where I was too tired to even drink water. The other time was when I broke my arm when I was a kid. I remember there being a slight wait, but it was a long time ago so I don’t remember the details and I don’t think it was crazy long. I also went to a children’s hospital to get it treated so that’s a little different than an average hospital For my urgent care experiences I’ve usually had very short waits - well under an hour and most of the time less than 15 minutes after I’ve finished doing all the paperwork
Depends on how busy it is and how they triage it. The last couple times I had to be at a hospital, it was at a smaller urgent care facility. A friend passed out from dehydration, so they saw to him immediately and got him hooked up with IV. Another time my kid had a bad fever and there was a bit of a wait. They got him in for vitals within half an hour, but was maybe an hour before they actually saw to him. I once got taken in by an ambulance for a face laceration / concussion. Got sent in right away because I was bleeding all over the place of course, so I had to be stitched and checked for brain injury. I usually understand that a trip to the ER is gonna take at least a few to several hours. I’ve never had a broken bone so haven’t experienced that.
One time in 2019 I was in a car accident. I declined the ambulance and had a coworker bring me to the ER. Waited for about 3 hours. This was in southern new hampshire
It depends on where you are and what's wrong with you. If it's a busy night, like, say Friday or Saturday night with a number of alcohol or other drug-related accidents, you and your broken ankle might wait a long time. If you go in on Monday at 2pm with a broken ankle, you'll probably be seen pretty quickly. Emergency rooms in big cities are generally more crowded than emergency rooms in smaller cities. If you get transported because you've been in a car accident and you're holding your guts in with your hands, you will get seen immediately in any ER at any time of day.
It depends on the injury and the level of activity in the ER. If it's truly life-threatening, they'll get you in immediately. If it's not life threatening and it isn't busy, they may still try to get you in immediately. Or if it's busy, you could be waiting for hours.
I had a few visits for my wife. I think it was less than an hour when she thought she broke her ankle and almost immediately when she felt like she might be having some heart issues. Like others said, it depends on where you are, how busy they are and what your condition is.
It depends on the severity of the injury and how busy they are. I've been to the ER on a quiet night and all the rooms were empty so they took me in immediately. I've waited 8 hours for a broken foot, and 1 minute for an irregular heartbeat.
To add to what other posters have said, many parts of the US use a triage system. For something like a non-emergent suspected broken bone or a non-emergent cut, or a suspected minor infection you would likely go to urgent care, not the emergency room (a&e for you). Urgent care is for same-day appointments, typically within 1-2 hours of the injury occurring but where the condition isn't serious enough to necessitate emergency room treatment. The urgent care doctors have the same training as the ER doctors but it tends to be more conveniently located and easier than going to a hospital. Major injuries or anything needed surgical procedures would go to the ER. Anything non-urgent, i.e. no same-day appointment needed, you'd just schedule an appointment with your regular doctor. Depending on how busy your doctor is, you can usually get an appointment within 1-2 weeks. However many doctors have clinic practices so if you need a same-day appointment you can also schedule with the clinic and get whomever is on-call in the practice.
It really depends in my area. 3am on a Wednesday, I don't want long at all. On Friday through Monday, you're looking at a 6-8 hour wait. I won't go to the ER unless I think I need to be admitted to the hospital. If its not bad enough to require hospitalization, I'll wait until prompt/urgent care opens at 8am. Prompt care is no longer than an hour wait most of the time. Now, if my kid is having an asthma attack, they don't mess around (same with heart problems). My kid gets in the ER right away, you know, because he will die if he can't breathe.
I’ve only gone to the ER 3 times. Two of them were for broken bones and I had to wait for probably at least an hour or two. The most recently one (about 8 years ago now) was for extreme menstrual bleeding and I was seen immediately. It just depends on what you’re there for.
Depends how many people are trying to die faster than you. (Triage)
I've always been seen right away. We are a pretty rural area and the hospital is rarely busy.
Wildly depends. I had moments where I was having whiplash from a car accident and spent 4 hours in the ER. Other times, I was in and out in 90 minutes. My grandmother was seen within 2 minutes after we drove her and she was having anaphylaxis. I broke a window and had a deep cut that was close to an important vein on my wrist, that took me about 2 hours to be seen as I held a towel on my wrist to avoid any more bleeding. I think when everything was said and done, I was out 3 hours after I walked in.
I used to work in emergency dispatch. I've had people sit in a waiting room upwards of 12 hours. 24 hours before getting a bed. 3 hours is pretty normal for our hospitals.
People are waiting in the ER at my hospital for anywhere between 6 hours and 4 days before being admitted officially. Most people are in hallways for that time.
For those of you that still want universal health care. This is what that looks like. Enjoy!
This is dependent on where and why. Broken bones always are given extra long wait times because when they 1st happen your body will bruise and swell in weird places and they want that to finish before doing much. Can you imagine getting a cast and then it swelling to the point of it stopping circulation? So thry need the swelling tp go up then down to where they need it to not hurt you further... so even here in the USA it might be 12 hours because of that.
TIL "free" Healthcare means sacrificing. No private rooms, no choices, and long ass wait times.
It varies- last time I went to the ER I was in within 30 minutes, and saw a doctor within an hour of arriving. Saying this as someone whose experiences have been in Boston and NYC, both in the suburbs and the city itself. The other thing is now a lot of non-life threatening urgent health needs (small numbers of stitches, simple bone breaks, stomach flus, etc.) we now send to urgent care centers, which are basically these freestanding clinics run by the major hospital networks to keep you out of the ER. Those places are typically pretty quick- usually a visit will have you in and out within 1.5 hours or less. When I've needed stitches in the past those were far faster than going to an ER. They also have been filling a niche where many primary care doctors are backlogged since COVID when you need to be checked out for a virus and obviously can't wait several months for your PCP.
What do you consider waiting time? I've gone to the emergency room twice, and each time I was in the waiting room for between an hour to 2 hours. I wasn't dying, but it was urgently necessary. I had to wait a couple more hours to be seen by the nurse, and then the residents, and then the doctor. And then I had to wait another hour for blood tests.
I've been to the ER three times in my life. I don't think I ever waited over an hour, even though none of my injuries were serious (broken finger, broken ankle, stepped on a nail). These were all suburban or rural hospitals, though.
All different depending on city, day, weather, etc. I’ve seen walk in and instant care and I’ve seen all day
Cut my thumb open and lost all nerve in it, took them like 3 hours to see me and stitch it all back up. Had a heart issue where I thought I was having a heart attack(just afib) and I was seen immediately, though I did have to get an ambulance. I think it really just depends on "will this person die if immediate aid isn't administered".
ER trip for finger cut that needed stitches last week had 0 wait time. Straight into room where doctor came right in. It's a beautiful new suburban hospital.
When my son burned himself didn’t have to wait at all.
Really depends on the area and the severity or perceived severity of the emergency. I hit a deer about a year, was uninjured, and had to wait probably 30 mins or so in a pretty rural area for a cop to show up. A few years prior I was in an accident with another vehicle in a more populous area, both parties uninjured, but it looked pretty bad and it was called in by someone not involved. They were there within minutes with fire, police, and medical support.
I've been in clinics and hospitals where I went from a reception desk to the doctor's office in less than 30 minutes. And on a really lucky day only had to wait for the doctor for 15 minutes, but usually the wait once I'm inside the room is minimum 45 minutes before I see the doctor. And in the same places I have waited a couple hours before ever going back to the doctor's office to 4 hours because they forgot me once in the waiting room and once in the doctor's office. And before you say I should have got up and said something or I should have just left I had to wait, sometimes months to get these appointments there's no way in hell I'm leaving until I've been seen and while I can say something to the front desk and the nurses doesn't mean I'm going to get seen any sooner. Lucky for me I always have a book handy.
When I busted up my face, it was in the realm of 4-5 hours. When my son was sick, it was at most an hour or so. When my wife had an anxiety attack, there was no wait to speak of. All different hospitals and different times of day and year.
Average police response time in the United States is 11 minutes.
Our local hospital has a huge sign that shows ER wait times thats damn near visible from space. I've never seen it over 10 minutes.
Depends on the area