Health Sciences North’s estimated Emergency Department wait times are provided as a general guideline and are based on current patient volume and acuity. Actual wait times may vary.

The wait time presented here refers to the time between your first contact with Registration staff and seeing a doctor.

Patients Being Treated = Patients who have had an initial assessment completed by a Physician.
Patients Waiting = Patients who have not yet had an initial assessment by a Physician.

The graph represents the 90^th percentile wait time to see a doctor at different times of the day and is based on data for the past 30 days.  The ‘now’ bar represents the current time of the day.

The Emergency Department does not work on a first come, first served system.  It’s important to know that critical patients will be seen first, whether they arrive on their own or via ambulance.  Upon arrival in the department, you will be assessed by a Registered Nurse using the Canadian Triage and Acuity Scale (CTAS).  You will be seen by a doctor based on that assessment.  In simple terms, the sickest patients will be seen most quickly.

We measure the wait time posted above as the time from when you are first seen by Registration staff until the time you see a doctor for assessment.  Because new patients arrive frequently, estimated wait times can change significantly.  Your personal experience may vary from these posted wait times based on a number of factors:

• Patients with more life-threatening situations arriving in the Emergency Department after you
• Volume of patients waiting to be seen compared to the number of doctors working