An analytical cross-sectional study was conducted to determine factors affecting waiting time of patients in the emergency department of Zamboanga City Medical Center (ZCMC). A total of 112 patient and 12 Emergency Room (ER) staff respondents were included in the study. Simple random sampling was employed in getting patient respondents while purposive sampling was used for the ER staff respondents. A checklist was utilized to note the time of arrival of patients, time they went to each phase, and time they left to determine the average waiting time of admitted and not admitted patients in the ER and determine factors affecting waiting time of patients at the ER. In-depth interview and observation were done to supply further data on factors affecting waiting time. Total average time spent is 5 hr 16 min for the admitted patients, 2 hr 24 min for sent home patients, 3 hr 18 min for Home Against Medical Advice (HAMA) patients and 5 hr 55 min for patient who transferred to other hospital. A total of 5 patients left the ER without being seen by the physician with the reasons of prolonged turnover of laboratory results, no physician at the ER, and physician not attending to patients. Multiple linear regression was calculated in determining the factors affecting waiting time of the patients. In the full model, classification as emergent, urgent, and visit during AM shift and PM shift were factors that statistically and significantly affected the waiting time of patients, significant with a p-value of 0.00. Statistically significant factors were all combined to determine the final model of multiple linear regression and showed that all the four factors were still statistically significant in affecting the waiting time at the ER with a p-value of 0.00 with a constant of 1.24. This study concludes that classification of patients as emergent and urgent, and visiting during AM and PM shift are the predictors of waiting time of patients in the ER of ZCMC.

Keyword: Factors affecting waiting time of patients Emergency department