Evaluating the Timing of Emergency Department Services in Hospitals of Arak City

Introduction: Emergency department (ED) is one of the most important wards in a hospital and its function can deeply affect the function of other wards and patient satisfaction. Therefore, the speed of providing services in ED is of great importance in order to decrease mortality and disabilities. Thus, the present study was done with the aim of evaluating timing of services in 2 teaching hospitals in Arak. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, researchers were present in the hospitals for 3 months in various working shifts and recorded the time of the patients’ presentation to triage unit. They also recorded the times of physician’s visit, sending samples to laboratory and receiving their results, radiography performance, and decision making in a checklist using a chronometer. Results: In the present study, 200 patients with the mean age of 45.8 ± 2.5 years participated (53.5% male). The findings of the study showed that mean time interval between triage and physician’s visit was 8.1 ± 4.3 minutes, time between visit and the first treatment measure was 8.7 ± 2.3 minutes, time between ordering a test and receiving results was 60.9 ± 17.5 minutes, time between ordering radiography and getting the results was 55.4 ± 18.1 minutes, time between ordering electrocardiography and getting the results was 5.4 ± 2.3 minutes and the patient’s length of stay in ED was 6.9 ± 3.3 hours. Conclusion: It seems that although the timing of providing the studied services is less than similar studies in some cases, it is still far from the international standards.