Catherine James|Florence T. Bourgeois|Michael Shannon
Association of Race/Ethnicity with Emergency Department Wait Times
Boston Children's Hospital|Harvard University|Boston Children's Hospital|Harvard University|Boston Children's Hospital|Harvard University
determine whether wait times children treated emergency departments eds nationally associated patient raceethnicitydata obtained national hospital ambulatory medical care survey collects information patient visits eds throughout united states examined data patients 15 years age presented eds 4year period 19972000 sample weights applied identified patient records yield national estimates purposes study raceethnicity analyzed 3 major groups ie nonhispanic white nhw nonhispanic black nhb hispanic white hwduring 4year study period 20633 patient visits surveyed representing national sample 929 million children 15 years age raceethnicity distribution included 9019 nhw children 595 3910 nhb children 239 2991 hw children 166 wait time groups 436 17 minutes mean sem significant unadjusted intergroup differences wait times 385 16 minutes 487 05 minutes 545 01 minutes nhw nhb hw children respectively visit immediacy triage status reported categorized 15 minutes 2203 children 171 15 60 minutes 5324 414 1 2 hours 3010 251 2 24 hours 1910 164 significant unadjusted differences triage status according race 146 nhw patients placed 2hour immediacy range compared 188 nhb patients 200 hw patients linear regression analysis logarithmically transformed wait time dependent variable adjustment potential confounders including hospital location geographic region payer status nhb hw patients waited longer nhw patients although results statistically significant hw patientsthese nationally representative data suggest children come eds wait times vary according raceethnicity several potential explanations observation including discrimination cultural incompetence language barriers social factors data similar data national hospital ambulatory medical care survey useful identifying nonclinical influences delivery pediatric emergency care