Talk:Waiting in healthcare

Other kinds of wait
People may wait for many things before being treated. Exogenous waits include a hospital bed space, a lab result, access to scarce equipment (operating theatre, MRI machine, esp.), access to a busy specialist, donor organ availability, etc. These queues rarely serve the individual, but may help defer institutional costs or maximize social good (as with chains of kidney paired donations). Other waits are for the benefit of the individual, such as for a progressive disease to become sufficiently bad (a.k.a. "ripe") as to justify the inherent risk of an intervention. Examples of this might include artificial replacement of natural joints of natural joints, cataract surgery. LeadSongDog come howl!  21:10, 16 April 2015 (UTC)
 * Hmmm... waiting for normal onset of childbirth is an example also of something beneficial, as too often induction of labor or caesarean sections are used when they are not indicated. I will be thinking of other kinds of waits.  Blue Rasberry   (talk)  21:18, 16 April 2015 (UTC)