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Abstract

Records in the Emergency Department at the General Hospital in Ensenada, Mexico, indicate that there are ways to improve waiting time at the Emergency Room. Objective: To identify the factors that interferes with waiting time, in order to get medical attention at the Emergency Department at General Hospital in Ensenada, Mexico. Methods: Retrospective descriptive statistical analysis of waiting times as a quality indicator were performed based on records of patients that attended the Emergency Department from January 2011 to December 2012. Results: Average wait times in 2011 were 37 min and it decreased to 33 min in 2012, even if there was an increase of 2,838 in the number of patients in 2012 compared to the year before. The sex related factor didn�t have an influence in wait time. The type of emergency and the way that patients arrived at the hospital did have influence in waiting time. Conclusion: Urgency services require a Triage attendance process by qualified personnel in the Emergency Department at the General Hospital in Ensenada, Mexico to establish well-identified priorities, waiting time in order to act efficiently as well as to determine strategies for continual improvement processes to be in agreement with Mexico�s official standard norm: NOM-027-SSA-2013. Now that we know real factors that have partial influence in waiting time there will be applied action strategies that could benefit patient attendance.

Biography

David Salas-Vargas has completed his Ph.D. at the age of 35 years at the Autonomous University of Baja California (UABC), Mexico. He was the Dean of the School of Health Sciences for almost eight years. He is currently the Coordinator of Postgraduate and Research Studies at the School of Health Sciences at UABC and lecture Epidemiology to undergraduate and postgraduate students. He has published his reasearch works in reputed journals.

Email: salasd@uabc.edu.mx