Hospital Patient Wait Times : One of the most unpredictable environments in the Healthcare Industry is the Emergency Department, ED. We have all been there, spending countless hours in a waiting room only to finally receive medical attention in a hallway, or if you were lucky enough to make it to an examination room, you sat hopeless, wondering if a doctor even knew that you existed. Excessive patient wait times can be tolling on the patient both physically and emotionally; affecting the morale of the patient, doctors, nurses and medical staff. Let's take a look at some of the most common contributing factors (and their implications) which lead to one of America's biggest challenges in the healthcare community today; optimizing the ED to reduce patient wait times and increase overall efficiency.