Text service aims to ease pain of waiting in ER

At some point, we all go through it: making the trip to the emergency room for some ailment or another, only to end up waiting for hours to see a doctor. Eventually, the wait becomes more painful than the pain, harder to stomach than the stomachache.

Trident Health System is trying to change that. This week, Trident unveiled a service that allows patients to see the average waiting times in each of Trident's area emergency rooms via text message. Trident operates emergency rooms at Trident Medical Center, Summerville Medical Center and Moncks Corner Medical Center.

It's a simple process. Patients text "ER" to the number 23000 on their cell phones. Shortly, a text arrives asking patients to type and send their ZIP code, and moments later, another text displays the waiting times at the nearest emergency rooms. The message also provides the number for a hot line to speak with a nurse.

The idea, said Melanie Williams, assistant vice president of marketing for Trident Health System, is to give patients a choice between waiting time and driving time.

Hypothetically, one could choose an emergency room that is farther away but has a comparatively short wait.

There are a few caveats, however. The service is meant for patients who do not need urgent care and can get to the hospital on their own. Dr. Matt Wallen, an emergency medicine specialist who works in all three Trident facilities, is adamant that patients experiencing medical emergencies — such as a heart attack, stroke, or profuse bleeding — dial 911 immediately.

Such patients take priority in the emergency room, Wallen said. "We still have a triage system that we use, based on the severity of the patient's illness. (Even if) there's a 60-minute wait on the computer," patients in serious condition will still be treated upon arrival, he said.

With the texting service in place, Williams said, patients will be better informed about the process of visiting the emergency room.

"It will give someone a better expectation of what they may encounter here (in terms of waiting time)," Wallen said.

Williams emphasized that listed times are approximate. And of course, standard texting rates apply; each inquiry comprises two texts sent and two received.

The system measures the time from the moment patients register at the emergency room until they are seen by a doctor.

The wait times sent to patients' phones represent the average wait over the last four hours, and are updated every half-hour.

Depending on a patient's location, the message may include wait times for Colleton Medical Center, which is owned by Trident's parent company, Hospital Corp. of America.

Williams said the texting system is being used by other HCA-owned hospitals around the country, but Trident is the only health care organization in the area to offer the service.