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Find Out What Emergency Rooms Have Shortest Wait Times In NYC
By
Ben Yakas
Published Dec 21, 2013
Modified Dec 21, 2013
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Dec 21, 2013
Modified Dec 21, 2013
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Back in 2009, NYC was ranked last among the nation's 10 largest metropolitan areas for satisfaction in emergency-department care, and New York State was 46th in overall emergency room waiting time. Thanks to ProPublica, we can see how NY stacks up now, and it's...about the same. NY State was again ranked 46th in the country for emergency room waiting time. But hey, that means people in North Carolina, Rhode Island, Delaware and DC all have it worse than us.
The national average for waiting times is 28 minutes, while it takes about 37 minutes in NY (DC is 46 minutes!). The national average for time spent in a hospital altogether is 138 minutes, while it takes 155 minutes in NY; the average time patients with broken bones had to wait before receiving pain meds in the nation is 60 minutes, and just 63 minutes in NY; and the amount of time New Yorkers spend in hospitals before being taken to a room is 151 minutes, compared to 97 minutes for the national average.
Even more fun data breakdowns: besides the national averages, they chart the average time that patients wait in all NY-area hospital emergency rooms before they see a doctor, they get sent home, they’re given pain medications for a broken bone, or they are admitted to the hospital. Interfaith Medical Center has the worst waiting time (131 minutes) and St. Barnabus has the longest overall time before getting sent home (306 minutes); it takes 148 minutes on average to get pain medication at Montefiore Medical Center, and it takes 584 minutes on average to get a room at Kings County Hospital.
As for the shortest wait times in NYC, click through here to play around with the data—and you can put in your address and find out how long it takes at your local emergency room.
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Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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