The long waiting periods in the emergency room impacting the quality of health care services in canada

Many Canadians, as well as the different standards of government, are continuously worried by the situation, even though significant efforts are being considered to reverse the trend. A survey by Radio- Canada revealed that many people in Canada agree that Emergency department wait times remain a significant challenge in healthcare across Canada, after accessibility of physicians. According to a survey by the Canadian Institute for Health Information, the number of time patients spend before receiving medical attention keeps rising, thereby calling the need for change to improve the health quality of life of Canadians. Further, the survey revealed that out of the 90% of the visits to Canadian emergency departments, more time, contrary to the recommended response time was spent between the periods of deciding the order of treatment to the doctor’s initial assessment.

Ideally, the recommended standard time is 120 minutes yet the actual time spent waiting was 47 to 229 minutes, long enough to adverse the quality of healthcare services (Canadian Institute of Health Information, 2019). 8 hours, to imply that only 10 % of patients waited above the recommended response time (Canadian Institute of Health Information, 2019). Better and improved health quality of life is a basic necessity for humanity and Canadians are not an exception. Extended delays in receiving medical care at the Emergency Departments of many hospitals remains a significant challenge for healthcare since it may lead to delayed medical attention, underutilization or lack of knowledge about preventive healthcare and related services, increased complication risks as a result of late diagnosis, rising economic costs or financial burden on the health care system, for instance patients who arrive sicker have to stay longer in healthcare facilities.

They may also exhibit reduced compliance with treatment procedures. Other serious health consequences associated with long waits include increased mental anguish mainly due to anxiety resulting from the delays, and which may lead to depression, physical pain, reducing health quality of life, more extended periods taken to recover from treatment processes and also poorer outcomes (Peter Kendell, 2019). In most cases, the specialist physicians are not available and have to be called to attend to patients because they are fewer as compared to the nurses always open to receive patients. According to the Canadian Institute of Health Information (2019), hospitals that have continued to face challenges with healthcare resources reported extended delays in providing emergency services. The report provided that 90% of the visits between 2016 and 2017 had a significant increase in times spent at the emergency department, standing at 32.

6 hours as compared to 29. 3 hours in 2015 and 28. Emergency physicians have first to ensure that patients are stable and their conditions, not life-threatening. Eventually, medical professionals conduct blood tests and X-rays, CT scans and other laboratory tests to come up with the right analysis of the condition. Some conditions may be in co-occurs with other states; therefore it takes professional medical personnel accuracy and caution to establish a particular disease based on the common symptoms. Where inaccurate diagnostic tests are conducted, or where there is no easy access to imaging equipment and laboratories, patients have to undergo long waits before getting the actual reports about their conditions. It may also cause delays for patients waiting to be admitted into the healthcare facilities.

Other patients may also be forced to wait longer, before getting admissions into emergency departments. Ethical and legal considerations Health and healthcare systems in Canada continue undergoing a significant transformation as improved approaches to better healthcare are continuously invented by stakeholders. Amidst the changing healthcare systems and the information needs of customers and stakeholders, confidentiality should be maintained at all costs. Healthcare stakeholders, in attempts to address the challenge of long hours spent waiting at the Emergency Departments, have formulated ethical ways to the relevant and actionable analysis of patient and stakeholder information needs. Healthcare Stakeholders, in finding the best approaches to change the length of wait times, are also enhancing efforts to build understanding and use of health information that will yield better-informed decisions.

1 weeks for the first visit and an additional 5. 3 weeks for follow up. However, the wait time has been reduced drastically by the implementation of Teledermatology programs in Ontario, which do not take more than ten days for dermatologist visit. Other examples of technology-enhanced treatment options include the Teleophthalmology program, which helped reduce the wait time retinal screening among diabetes patients from six months to four weeks, upon its implementation in Ontario (Wait Times Alliance, 2019). (iii) Financial Incentives According to Wait Times Alliance (2019) Healthcare related issues including those touching on wait times, have remained a significant concern for the federal government in Canada. As a result, about 350 patients were removed from Prince Edward Island's patient registry within four months. Other attempts by the Government in Canada to reduce wait times have been through financial incentives to healthcare facilities dedicated to managing the challenge.

In Ontario for instance, the Emergency Room Wait Times Strategy was launched in 2008 and aimed at reducing the total time a patient spends in the Emergency Department. The model utilizes a cross-examination of fundamental principles such as performance variables. Based on the findings of the approach, healthcare institutions that reported a reduction in the amount of time patients spent in the Emergency Department against the 90th percentile were rewarded with financial incentives. An expanded human resource is, therefore, an elegant way to reduce wait times in emergency departments, since it offers a variety of professional expertise. (v) Setting targets for hospitals Policy makers in Canada have continuously made efforts to improve waiting time in Canadian hospitals emergency departments ( Laupacis, 2019). There are policies that involve setting targets for healthcare facilities regarding the amount of time patients take in the emergency departments, from the time they get into emergency rooms until the time they are discharged.