ER Wait Times Available Online, by Text Messaging and Outdoor Billboards

August 07, 2010

Myrtle Beach, SC - Grand Strand Regional Medical Center and South Strand Ambulatory Care Center, along with other South Carolina HCA hospitals, are now offering potential emergency room patients the opportunity to view their emergency department wait times. Wait times are available online at grandstrandmed.com, by text messaging and on digital billboards.

Individuals can text 23000 with the word ER in the text body to learn the wait time from their cell phones. A text message will respond, asking the user’s zip code, and will reply with the average ER wait time for Grand Strand Regional Medical Center and South Strand Ambulatory Care Center. It also provides a telephone number for physician referral. 

Two digital billboards on 17 Business and Bypass also state wait times for Grand Strand Regional.

"This technology provides our patients with information that has not been available before,” said Doug White, CEO of Grand Strand Regional. “Making wait times available online, through texting and on billboards, helps people with non urgent conditions decide when and where they will visit the emergency department. Of course, anyone with a life threatening emergency should call 911.   This information is for those who do not have a physician or their physician’s office is closed and they feel they need medical attention – it is not for true emergencies.”

Text messaging can be used in SC, Georgia and Florida and will provide the wait times for the three closest HCA hospitals.

Times posted represent the average time it takes a patient to see a physician after arrival. All patients are triaged, a system that assesses and treats the most ill or injured patients first, by a registered nurse and then moved into the emergency department for physician evaluation.

 Wait times are updated every thirty minutes and represent a four hour average. Times are approximate and provided for informational purposes only.

Message and data rates may apply. For more info visit texterhelp.com.