Average waiting time at the emergency department and its relation with inappropriate health–seeking behaviour at Al–Ahsa City, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia 2017–2018

Fatimah J Al–Shehab; Fatimah M Al–Dakhlan; Zainab Al–Qadheeb; Qasem M. Aljabr

Volume : VII, Issue : X, October - 2018

Average waiting time at the emergency department and its relation with inappropriate health–seeking behaviour at Al–Ahsa City, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia 2017–2018

Fatimah J Al Shehab, Fatimah M Al Dakhlan, Zainab Al Qadheeb, Qasem M. Aljabr

Abstract :

Over the years, the number of visits to emergency departments(ED) increased, resulted in ED crowding and increased waiting times for minor as wellsevere problems, a cross–sectional survey was done to investigate this issue at the ERs of the major hospitals in Al–Ahsa,April 2018. This study aims to analyse the association between inappropriate use of ED services & increasing the average waiting time,to identify the reasons motivating misuse of the EDAnd assess patients‘ knowledge of primary health care (PHC). Interview with 400 patients shows that the average waiting time was 17 minutes� 22 SD for urgent case .A high proportion of patients are regularly visiting the ED three to four times/ year .In this study, we tried to find the factors that let these patients preferring the ER services even if they know that their cases can be treated in PHCs,limited facilities and resources was the most affecting factor.

Most of the participant were generally aware of PHCs although 25% were not aware of the services provided by these centres.