TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Visiting an emergency room in Southern Arizona can be a waiting game. Those with the most severe injuries will likely see less of a wait than those with less serious issues.
However, anytime you're not feeling good, waiting can be especially hard.
As RSV, COVID-19 and flu like illnesses start to rise, many emergency rooms are dealing with longer wait times.
Some KGUN 9 viewers tell us they've had to sit in the emergency room for several hours. One person saying they left after being told it could be upwards of ten hours.
We reached out to St. Mary's Hospital on wait times to see what they're seeing first hand these past few weeks.
"It's definitely impacted hospital operations, emergency departments, in-patient bed availabilities, increased times," Dr. Scott Bonnono explained. "So, we are seeing an increased rush of patients with respiratory complaints and viral respiratory illnesses."
While waiting times differ for each hospital depending on the day and time, St. Mary's has seen an increase in patients recently, resulting in longer wait times.
"Those times are definitely going up as the waiting room expands,"Bonnono said. "So, we're seeing waits that are taking hours at times."
What can you do to avoid longer wait times?
Dr. Bonnono says know when to visit an emergency room or just call your doctor.
"Anything that is routine illness or injury and not life threatening," Bonnono said. "Those types of things can be handled in in urgent care center or doctor's office."
Dominique Hamilton, registered nurse at St. Mary's and Chief Union Representative at National Nurses United, says short staffing can also hurt wait times.
"We have no longer that influx of COVID patients coming in, thank goodness," Dominique Henderson said. "But at the same time, we have so many fewer nurses that the hospital has not changed the criteria that we now go under, and in fact, they are not hiring in the ways that they should be."
KGUN 9 reached out to hospital officials at Northwest Hospital on wait times. They provided us with the following statement:
We have six emergency rooms throughout Tucson, and wait times vary greatly, depending on the time of day, location, and the severity of patients at any given time.
There have been times where our emergency rooms are extremely busy and some patients do have to wait.
While we always encourage patients to seek care when they believe they are having a medical emergency, patients who do not have a condition that they believe to be life or limb threatening should consider seeking care in a lower acuity setting, if available.
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Denelle Veselik is an anchor and investigative reporter for KGUN 9. It's been her dream to tell your stories for the past decade. She is extremely curious and wants to continue to use her storytelling for the greater good. Share your story ideas and important issues with Denelle by emailing denelle.veselik@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook, Instagram and X/Twitter.
