ASSOCIATION BETWEEN EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT WAIT TIME AND MEDICATION PRESCRIPTION PATTERNS

In my thesis, I study whether a patient experiencing longer wait times in the emergency department (ED) is more or less likely to receive a medication, a non-prescription drug, or intravenous therapy (IV). Using survey data from the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), I analyze a sample of 98,451 ED visits from 2012 to 2016. My key variable is wait time, measured as a series of indicator variables for each quartile of the wait time distribution. My three outcome variables are: (1) indicator for receiving a medication, (2) indicator for receiving a non-prescription drug, and (3) indicator for whether an IV was given. I use four models for all three outcomes by including the following control variables in my analysis: (1) demographic information of the patients such as age, sex and race, (2) payment method, and (3) clinical characteristics such as pain scale and symptoms. I also include dummy variables for each respective year to capture any macro-trends. I find that patients in the 4th quartile of wait time have lower odds of receiving a medication, patients in the 3rd quartile have lower odds of receiving a non-prescription drug, and patients in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th quartile have lower odds of being given an IV. Many control variables are also correlated with my outcomes, such as age, sex, race, pain scale, and symptoms. My results have implications for optimal staffing of triage units in hospitals, advancing work flows efficiencies, and cutting waste.http://archive.org/details/associationbetwe1094564942Lieutenant, United States NavyApproved for public release; distribution is unlimited