Time indices and its related factors in the emergency department of teaching hospitals affiliated to Qom University of Medical Sciences, 2017

Patients referred to emergency departments need immediate medical proceedings by personnel of the emergency department. Time managing is vital to present medical service and its failure can endanger patients' lives. This study aimed to determine time indices and its related factors in the emergency department of selected hospitals of Qom University of Medical Sciences. In this descriptive-analytic study, 250 patients who referred to the emergency department were selected by convenience sampling. The tool for collecting data was the revised form of "time indices and workflow of emergency services" and chronometer. Data were analyzed by SPSS Ver. 23 non-parametric tests including Mann Whitney and Kruskal Wallis. Patient’s entry time to triage was 7/2±13/2 minutes, time of triage to doctor's visit was 21/3±37/8 minutes, time of physician’s visit to decision making was 28/9±40/5 hours, time of decision making till departure was 8±60/5 hours, and total time of arrival at and departure from the department was 15/4±17/07 hours. There were significant differences between the mean of the studied time in terms of marital status, severity of illness and cause of illness (p <0.05), so that the highest mean of total arrival time till departure was in married patients, and patients with urgent and internal causes. Observing time indices in emergency departments of hospitals requires time management of the authorities. Achieving an international standard requires to reform the policies, principles and hospital management executive processes. Policy-making should be based on organizing therapeutic measures, preventing congestion and preventing from its adverse effects on patient care.