Waiting for coronary angiography: is there a clinically ordered queue?

Citation
H. Hemingway et al., Waiting for coronary angiography: is there a clinically ordered queue?, LANCET, 355(9208), 2000, pp. 985-986
Citations number
5
Categorie Soggetti
General & Internal Medicine","Medical Research General Topics
Journal title
LANCET
ISSN journal
01406736 → ACNP
Volume
355
Issue
9208
Year of publication
2000
Pages
985 - 986
Database
ISI
SICI code
0140-6736(20000318)355:9208<985:WFCAIT>2.0.ZU;2-M
Abstract
Among over 3000 patients undergoing coronary angiography in the absence of a formal queue-management system, we found that a-priori urgency scores wer e strongly associated with waiting times, prevalence of coronary-artery dis ease, rate of revascularisation, and mortality. These data challenge the wi dely held assumption that such waiting lists are not clinically ordered; ho wever, the wide variation in waiting times within urgency categories sugges ts the need for further improvements in clinical queueing.