ER Wait Times Getting Longer(d Kellermann. We've taken the most time...),Health

For the current study, Wilper and his colleagues reviewed data from 1997 through 2004 and included 92,173 adult ER visits. Of those visits, almost 18,000 were thought to need immediate attention at the time of initial evaluation, and 987 had a diagnosed heart attack.

Using this sample, the researchers extrapolated the data to the U.S. population for the study period, which represented 332 million adult ER visits, 67 million patients needing immediate care and 3.7 million heart attack patients. The number of emergency department visits increased from 93.4 million in 1994 to 110.2 million in 1997, according to the study. At the same time, the number of hospitals operating 24-hour ERs dropped 12 percent between 1997 and 2004.

Not surprisingly, the wait to see an ER physician also increased during that time. In 1997, the average wait was 22 minutes. By 2004, the average wait was up to 30 minutes -- a 4.1 percent increase in wait time each year.

For heart attack patients, even a few minutes of delay in treatment can literally mean the difference between life and death. Yet, the average wait time for a heart attack patient increased from eight minutes to 20 minutes over the study period -- a 150 percent increase.

Those who were assessed as needing immediate care waited 14 minutes in 2004, compared to 10 minutes in 1997. That translated into a 3.6 percent increase.

The study also found that blacks, Hispanics and women had to wait longer for care. Whites waited an average of 24 minutes, while blacks had to wait an average of 31 minutes and Hispanics had to wait 33 minutes on average. Wilper said it's possible that blacks and Hispanics might be more likely to visit hospitals that have longer wait times in general.

While the difference in wait times between men and women was slight -- about 5 percent, o
'/>"/>