Factors Influencing Patient Waiting Time in Emergency Department of Khunyangu Sub-County Hospital, Busia Kenya

Background: Waiting time remains an important indicator of quality health services. The emergency department is the most critical area of any hospital. For patients who are in urgent need of hospitalization, delayed admission often leads to exacerbation of the patient's condition and may threaten the patient's life. In recent years, the flow of patients to the Emergency Departments of Western countries has steadily increased thus generating overcrowding and extended waiting times. Developing countries face daily challenges in the Emergency Department through huge exposure to several patients seen per day on average. The study therefore sought to establish factors influencing patient waiting time in the emergency department of Khuyangu Sub-County Hospital, Busia Kenya.

Material and Methods: Descriptive cross-sectional research design guided the conduct of this study. Data collection was conducted on 191 patients and healthcare workers over four weeks using an interviewer-administered pretested structured questionnaire. Both descriptive statistics and inferential statistics were used for data analysis. To establish associations between the independent variable and dependent variables, correlations and cross-tabulations were used. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to determine the influence of independent variables on the dependent variable.

Findings: The findings demonstrated an R-squared value of 0.368. It was observed that there was a weak positive correlation that was statistically significant (r=.281, N=191, p=.000) between the availability of healthcare workers at their workstations and waiting time. There was a weak positive correlation that was also statistically significant (r=.228, N=191, p=.002) between communication on waiting time in areas where there was no health worker to attend to the patient and the waiting time.

Conclusion and recommendations: The findings can be used to develop waiting time guidelines and improve waiting in the ED. This study recommends that hospital management should address the identified causes of delay to enable patients to get timely services. In addition, healthcare workers should be available at their workstations. Additional research is necessary to further evaluate the impact and utility of the emergency department.