TORONTO – St. Mary’s General Hospital in Kitchener has become the first in Ontario and second in Canada to provide the public with emergency room wait times on its website.
The ‘real-time’ notification system includes wait times to see physicians or nurse practitioners, the number of people waiting and those being treated, wait time trends based on a six hour period and alternatives to emergency department care.
“This website allows patients to have a look behind the scenes so they can make decisions about where and when to seek care,” said Dr. Bob Wickett, Chief of Emergency Medicine at St. Mary’s.
The website has a digital stopwatch which is updated every 20 minutes.
“It allows us to be much more transparent about what patients can expect, if and when they come to the Emergency Department (ED),” added St. Mary’s President Don Shilton.
The idea came from a software product developed two years ago at St. Mary’s which gives staff and managers with real time data from the emergency department and in-patient units.
The website is designed to help those with semi-urgent or non-urgent medical conditions make informed choices about where and when to seek care.
The hospital maintains that those people with life or limb threatening illness or injuries to still call 911 or go to their closest emergency department for care.
“When we sought feedback, we heard that the more information we could provide the better. That’s why we added features like the number of people currently waiting, and the number of people currently being treated,” said St. Mary’s President Don Shilton.
St. Mary’s emergency department provides care to more than 47,000 people a year.
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