• Zeynep Karakaya, Yüksel Gökel, Ayça Açikalin, and Olcay Karakaya.
• Department of Emergency Medicine, Cukurova University, Faculty of Medicine, Adana. zeynepkarakaya76@hotmail.com
• Ulus Travma Acil Cer. 2009 May 1;15(3):210-6.

BackgroundTriage, consultations, and radiological and laboratory test processes have different effects on the total waiting time in the emergency department (ED). Under these circumstances, the importance of the consultation system process and effectiveness of consultation becomes very clear. Our aim in this study was to verify the process of the consultation system.MethodsThis prospective and defining study was performed with 276 patients admitted to the ED. A total of 342 consultations were requested. These patients were classified as very urgent, urgent and non-urgent according to their problems, and a survey form was completed by the ED resident.ResultsThe most frequently requested consultation was to the Department of Internal Medicine (72%). Mean time for reply to the consultation was 29+/-43 minutes. The earliest reply to the consultation was from Cardiology while the latest responders were the general surgeons. Timeline for replying to the consultation was shorter depending on the urgency of the case.ConclusionIn our study, we determined that the most important factor for the effectiveness of consultation was the definition of the urgency of the patients by the residents in the ED. Since the number of patients admitting to the ED will continue to increase in the future, more detailed prospective studies are needed about the efficiency of consultation in the ED.

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