Our director and emergency physician, Dr. Kendall Ho, gave some thoughts last week to a CBC News story about a Canadian first: patients in Calgary, AB can now use their smartphones to get a real-time estimate of wait times at area hospital emergency rooms.
As an emergency physician, I’m very excited about this tool because it helps this particular group [of patients] choose the right access point for the health system.
Emergency room wait time apps have been made mobile in some American cities, but Calgary is the first Canadian area to make real-time estimates available to smartphone users. Alberta Health Services also has more features planned for its app, including immunization clinic finder and health advisories.