Impact of announced wait time information on emergency department overcrowding mitigation: a simulation study

Implementing information systems to display predicted patient wait times requires carefully balancing prediction accuracy, update frequency, and patient adoption. Accurate and timely updates can help redistribute patient load across hospital networks and improve efficiency, while poor accuracy or infrequent updates risk worsening ED congestion, especially when patient adoption rate is high. Our study calls for immediate attention from ED managers to carefully evaluate the impact of announced wait time system before wide implementation.