Impact of emergency department waiting time announcements on patient behavior

Dr Park, Eric   (Principal Investigator (PI))

Dr Tsui Sik Hon Matthew MD   (Co-Investigator)

Dr Wang Jingqi   (Co-Investigator)

Dr Leung Siu Chung   (Co-Investigator)

Professor Ouyang Huiyin   (Co-Investigator)

36

2020-09-01

592000

Impact of emergency department waiting time announcements on patient behavior

Delay announcement, Emergency department, Empirical healthcare operation, Structural estimation, Waiting time

Operations ManagementHealth Services

Business Studies (B)

17502320

General Research Fund (GRF)

2020

On-going

1) To construct a unique dataset that captures ED patients’ responses to announced ED delay information and care outcomes from the ED visit; 2) To build a structural model of the ED patients’ ED choice decision process; 3) To estimate ED patients’ sensitivity to announced waiting time and travel time in their decision of choosing which ED to attend for emergent medical treatment; 4) To measure the level of awareness of ED patients on ED waiting time announcement system; 5) To conduct counterfactual studies on the effectiveness of ED waiting time announcement systems in balancing patient loads in a network of multiple EDs under various levels of a) awareness of ED patients on ED waiting time announcement systems and b) ED patients’ sensitivity to announced waiting time and travel time; 6) To provide policy suggestions on ED waiting time announcement system designs and promotion strategies to improve its effectiveness in balancing ED loads and care quality outcomes; 7) To identify patient characteristics that differentiate their awareness of ED waiting time announcement system and sensitivity to waiting time. Prioritization across triage level.