RENO –– Renown South Meadows Medical Center is implementing a new, innovative tool that offers convenience at a time when it is needed the most — an emergency. The hospital is the first in the region to publish its emergency room wait times live on the Web and through iPhones. This new program is meant to inform people of potential waits, helping patients and their families find out what to expect before getting to the hospital.

To access this new program, visit www.renown.org/southmeadows and view the live ER wait times at the top of the page. People are also encouraged to bookmark this page to receive the latest ER wait times on their iPhones.

Wait times are calculated as the length of time from registration to having a physician assigned to the case. Referred to as “door to doc” time, this new program will inform people of how long they can anticipate waiting to see an ER physician from the time they enter the ER doors and register their name at the front desk. It is important to note these wait times are for a doctor, not an assistant or a nurse. Wait times are updated about every 15 minutes.

ER wait times are approximate and provided for informational purposes only. Some circumstances affect wait times including patients who arrive by ambulance, as they tend to be very sick and require immediate attention. Patients who arrive with life-threatening and more serious injuries and ailments are also seen before those with non-life-threatening problems.

In order to determine how quickly patients are seen, all walk-in patients will first be evaluated by a triage nurse. The nurse will ask some questions about how the patient is feeling and take vital signs such as blood pressure, pulse rate, breathing rate and temperature. Vitals are what determine how quickly a patient is seen.