Baseline characteristics of enrolled patients and system factors related to their ED visit
| Patient characteristic | N | n (%)* |
| Age (years), median (IQR) | 1367 | 4.34 (1.50–10.57) |
| Female sex | 1367 | 676 (49.5) |
| First language of both parents is neither French nor English† | 1367 | 60 (4.4) |
| Both parents immigrated in the previous 5 years† | 1358 | 72 (5.3) |
| Use of prescription medication prior to ED visit | 1367 | 309 (22.6) |
| Chronic medical condition | 1365 | 285 (20.9) |
| Indwelling line, or indwelling urinary catheter, or dialysis catheter or respiratory support needed | 1367 | 26 (1.9) |
| Pediatric Canadian Triage Acuity Score | 1367 | |
| 1 – Resuscitation | 4 (0.3) | |
| 2 – Emergent | 84 (6.1) | |
| 3 – Urgent | 691 (50.5) | |
| 4 – Semiurgent | 495 (36.2) | |
| 5 – Non-urgent | 93 (6.8) | |
| Presenting complaint (top 5) | 1367 | |
| Fever | 207 (15.1) | |
| Cough/congestion | 135 (9.9) | |
| Difficulty breathing/SOB | 108 (7.9) | |
| Upper extremity injury | 92 (6.7) | |
| Abdominal pain | 72 (5.3) | |
| Mental health presentation | 1367 | 29 (2.2) |
| Arrival by ambulance | 1367 | 57 (4.2) |
| Disposition | 1367 | |
| Discharged | 1281 (93.7) | |
| Admitted | 68 (5.0) | |
| Left without being seen | 15 (1.1) | |
| Left against medical advice | 3 (0.2) | |
| System factors | N | n (%)* |
| Location in the ED | 1367 | |
| Acute care area | 337 (24.7) | |
| Ambulatory/minor treatment area | 1030 (75.3) | |
| Time of presentation | 1367 | |
| Day (08:00 to 15:59) | 681 (49.8) | |
| Evening (16:00 to 23:59) | 628 (45.9) | |
| Night (12:00 to 07:59) | 58 (4.2) | |
| Weekday presentation (Monday to Friday) | 1367 | 948 (69.3) |
| Wait time to MD assessment (hours), median IQR | 1344 | 1.5 (0.9–2.1) |
| Length of stay in the ED (time of triage to time of discharge OR time of admission to floor, hours), median (IQR) | 1364 | 2.6 (1.9–3.8) |
| Number of patients waiting to be seen when triaged, median (IQR)‡ | 1367 | 13 (9–19) |
| Number of patients awaiting inpatient beds at time of registration‡ | 1367 | |
| 0 | 157 (11.5) | |
| 1 | 389 (28.5) | |
| 2 | 374 (27.4) | |
| 3 or more | 447 (32.7) | |
| ED census at time of registration, median (IQR)‡ | 1367 | 31 (22–38) |
| Involvement of subspecialty consulting services§ | 1367 | 66 (4.8) |
| First ED-specific services assessment by staff ED physician¶ | 1341 | 542 (40.4) |
| Number of ED staff physicians involved in patient care¶ | 1341 | |
| 0** | 9 (0.7) | |
| 1 | 1258 (93.8) | |
| 2 | 71 (5.3) | |
| 3 or more | 3 (0.2) |
*Unless otherwise indicated.
†Or of sole parent as appropriate to child’s circumstances.
‡For pragmatic reasons, we measured these variables at the midpoint of the hour for each shift (eg, 08:30, 09:30, 10:30) and used for each patient the midpoint of the hour that they were triaged (eg, for a patient triaged at 09:20, we used data collected at 9:30). Triage occurred before registration.
§N includes patients for whom the ED-specific staff requested a subspecialty service consultation (n=55) and those who were seen directly by subspecialty service at the time of their presentation to the ED (n=11).
¶N reflects the 1341 patients who were seen first by ED-specific services (rather than directly by a subspecialty service).
**Represents mental health crisis workers (under the auspices of ED-specific services) directly caring for patients.
ED, emergency department; SOB, shortness of breath.