If we are to understand emergency department wait times in Canada, we must first understand how emergency departments are used.

The urgent conditions seem to be seen quickly, while the wait is quite a bit longer for non-urgent cases.

For kids, there's a second peak in the evening, perhaps because parents are getting home, doing that last check before bed.

Where alternatives are available, this raises questions about whether a portion of these types of patients can be appropriately treated in non-emergency department settings, such as primary health care clinics.

One thing that's important to remember is that these are individual patients -- your son or daughter who went to an emergency with a broken arm or your grandma who ended up there with a heart condition.

We found that over half of patients visiting emergency departments were there for less-urgent or non-urgent conditions, things like chronic back pain or a sore throat. Whereas at the other extreme, less than one per cent who visited emergency rooms were most severely ill - people with diagnoses of shock or major trauma.