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# Triage wait times at Emergency
- URL: https://www.dashhouse.com/2006321triage-wait-times-at-emergency-html/
- Published: 2006-03-21T12:05:51.000Z
- Updated: 2022-08-15T15:33:43.000Z
- Author: Darryl Dash
- Tags: Blog, Life, #DashHouseCom, #wp

I’ve always assumed that when you go to the Emergency Department of a hospital, you will be assessed immediately by a triage nurse. If your condition is life-threatening – you have a bullet wound in your chest, or your unconscious – you’ll be seen by medical staff immediately. If your condition can wait, you’ll be told to line up like everybody else.

A few months back, we took our daughter in to Emergency. [Here’s what happened](https://www.dashhouse.com/charlene/2006/01/emergency%5Fappar.htm) (from [Charlene](https://www.dashhouse.com/charlene/index.htm)):

> Here’s the part that just baffles me. When we arrived at the ER there were NO nurses in at the reception triage to assess incoming patients – None. After waiting patiently for two or three minutes I requested attention from a registration staff person. They paged a nurse. No response. We had obviously arrived during a shift change. It was a full ten minutes before staff arrived to triage Christina and another individual who had arrived before we did. Have I missed an annoucement? When did “back in 10 minutes” become acceptable intake practice at an Ontario hospital Emergency Department?

I contacted the hospital and was amazed to get this response:

> I have spoken with the Patient Care Manager of the Emergency Department. She has informed me, with regards to the triage nurse response times, that seeing a patient within *10 minutes* of arrival to the Emergency Department fits within our hospital standard and is also reflective of the Ministry of Health standard.

So if you walk in and you’re having a heart attack, or you have a child who’s not breathing, and there’s nobody there to help you for ten minutes, that is within hospital standards.

Amazing. I think I’ll be following up on this.