Emergency room wait times are rising nationally. What it means for Myrtle Beach-area patients
Patients visiting a South Carolina emergency room last year could have watched a feature length film before hearing their name called, with average wait times exceeding two hours.
Schipp Ames, a spokesman for the S.C. Hospital Association, said evaluating ER wait times is a “perennial issue” for the organization, although it doesn’t keep information on statewide stats.
“Making sure emergency departments are running smoothly with healthy output is something South Carolina’s hospitals are always working to optimize,” Ames said.
“Many hospitals now advertise their average ER wait times prominently on their websites and offer urgent care settings to help manage care,” he said.
Officials from the region’s hospitals were not immediately available for comment, but all have tools in place to help people determine just how long it’ll take them to see a doctor for walk-in care.
Here’s a look at current wait times for local emergency rooms.
Conway Medical Center
The facility’s 42-bed emergency department sees about 55,000 patients annually and includes staff certified in basic and advanced cardiac life support, pediatric advanced life support and trauma nursing.
According to tracking site HospitalStats.com, it takes about 22 minutes for an initial exam, with non-critical discharge times of about two hours.
Grand Strand Medical Center
With three emergency room locations in the greater Myrtle Beach area, Grand Strand Medical Center runs a dashboard on its website specifying wait times at each. As of Oct. 4, they were between three and four minutes.
“ER wait times represent a four-hour rolling average updated every 30 minutes, and is defined as the time of patient arrival until the time the patient is greeted by a qualified medical professional,” the hospital explains on its website.
Patients are prioritized based on their reason for visiting and nature of complaint.
McLeod Health
The Florence-based healthcare system runs satellite facilities in Carolina Forest, Little River and Loris and recently announced plans to expand its Carolina Forest campus on the strength of a $56 million investment.
The four-story building, expected to open in late 2025, includes 48 beds and four operating suites
Information on wait times at each of its facilities were not immeidately available, but tracking site HospitalCareData.com lists average delays of an hour at McLeod’s Loris location. Patients could wait up to nearly 4 hours if they need to be admitted.
Tidelands Health
The regional hospital system runs an emergency room out of its Waccamaw Community Hospital in Murrells Inlet, where wait times are around 32 minutes before seeing a doctor and up to nearly four hours should a permission need admission, HospitalCareData.com reports.
Experts say the best time to seek emergency room care is between 6 a.m. and noon
A June 2021 survey from Figure1, a social networking site for the healthcare industry, found that 44% its users were most quickly cared for at emergency rooms between 6 a.m. and noon. Why? That’s usually when patient volumes are lowest while staffing levels are are highest.
