The Length of Waiting for First Visit and Disposition in Emergency Department in Tabriz Imam Reza Hospital

Hassan Amırı; Samad Shams Vahdati; Niloofar Ghodratı; Ali Taghızadueh; Saeid Mahmoodıvar; Meraj FOROUGHI; Armin Nehzati

Hassan Amırı¹, Samad Shams Vahdati¹, Niloofar Ghodratı², Ali Taghızadueh¹, Saeid Mahmoodıvar³, Meraj FOROUGHI³, Armin Nehzati³

¹Departments Of Emergency Medicine,tabriz University Of Medical Sciences, Imam Reza Hospital, Tabriz, Iran
²Departments Of Internal Medicine, Tabriz University Of Medical Sciences, Imam Reza Hospital, Tabriz, Iran
³Departments Of Medical Student, Tabriz University Of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran

Abstract

Objectives: Establishment of emergency medicine specialty in Tabriz in October of 2006 made a big fundamental revolution in the quality of medical service in the general hospital of Imam Reza. Each patient who comes to emergency department after triage, visited by an intern and a resident of emergency medicine (EM) and decision about their disposition following necessary medical care is made. In this study we aimed to show the promptness of first visits and length of stay of patients in the emergency department.
Materials and Methods: Randomized day or night visits from 20 March up to 20 June 2008 to emergency department were included in the study. Then the length of emergency department stay from admission to leaving emergency department, length of delay to first visit by a resident of EM and the consultants were recorded.
Results: A total of 4.550 patients were included in the study. All patients were visited by EM residents and 80% of patients visited only by EM residents and an attending physician. The mean length of waiting time for the first visit and the mean length of emergency department stay were 11.6±14.8 min and 183.6±409.5 respectively. The consultation rates with infectious disease, internal medicine, neurology, neurosurgery, general surgery and ENT was 0.9%, 3.5%, 6.3%, 6.2%, 7.7% and 0.3%, respectively.
Conclusion: Although emergency medicine is a toddler and there is insufficient number of residents to serve the patients in Tabriz, residents can still visit patients in a few minutes. The length of time for the first visit is short and majority of the patients were seen both by a resident and an attending physician.