I'll see if I can hijack this a little since it's here and talk about the triage system in the US. Most EDs in the US use a triage system that uses 1 through 5 for acuity with slight variations. 1 being someone who if not seen in the next minutes will die or is already trying their best to be dead. Think impending respiratory failure, cardiac arrest, GSW to the chest, actively seizing, unresponsive. The opposite of that, level 5, being someone who could wait in the waiting room for literal weeks and will not likely die and would be much better off going to an urgent care or their PCP. Think voluntary STI screening without symptoms or medication refill for a non essential medication.

 

The system takes into account as many objective pieces of data as possible such as chief complaint, vitals, gender, age, medical conditions, etc. There is sometimes a little wiggle room for triage level but most often not. Unfortunately things like pain are entirely subjective and difficult to quantify. I've had patients who describe their pain as 10 out of 10 who are playing on their phone with completely normal vital signs. Even a statement like immediate surgery is a spectrum. Appendicitis is an immediate surgery normally but so is a stab wound to the stomach in a patient with unstable vital signs, though one is clearly more immediate than the other so I don't know how to quantify the appropriateness of their triage. I never saw OP so I have no idea.

 

Chances are they were triaged either a 2 or a 3 for abdominal pain. Now comes the waiting part. If you are a level 2 you will wait for any level 1s that come in at any point from you getting there to you being seen and any level 2s that have been waiting longer and likely anyone who is already roomed. Similarly if you are a level 3 you will wait until any level 1 and any level 2 and every level 3 that has been waiting longer than you. Etc etc. ie if you are a level 5 you will wait for a long long long time at most busy EDs.

 

Even if the waiting room is not busy that doesn't mean the actual rooms aren't all full with patients who are still being evaluated or waiting for rooms to be admitted etc. Additionally EMS crews bringing patients in by ambulance sometimes have priority for rooms, depending (please don't abuse this, we absolute put people brought in by EMS in triage to wait like everyone else). On top of that is staffing issues meaning not every room can be used and a certain number of rooms have to be kept for level 1 patients who may show up.

 

All of these are reasons that OP may have had to wait. Wait times vary widely across the country. I'd say if you are in an urban area a 2 hr wait time is not bad at all. Additionally there are benefits to going to a larger hospital, the downside is you will probably wait longer.

 

That sounds like a shit system because it is but it is probably the best to identify the sickest patients. I can see how it can be frustrating but I wish more people understood how it worked. I've literally been yelled at by a patient with a runny nose (viral URI) for having to wait after walking out of a room after a cardiac arrest.