Emergency Triage and Registration

Wait times

Critically ill patients are always treated first in our Charlotte & Lewis Steinberg Emergency (4001 Leslie Street). Wait times for other patients may vary. How long you wait may be affected by:

  • the number of people waiting to be seen in the Emergency Department
  • the severity of their illness or injury
  • available assessment rooms

We continually work to reduce wait times. It may be difficult to determine exactly how long your visit will take. However, if your condition changes at any time during your visit, please speak with a nurse or other team member.

Triage and registration

  1. All patients report to the Triage Reception Desk when they arrive at the Emergency Department. (Triage means deciding who must be seen first. This is done by the severity of illness or injury, not the order in which patients arrive.)
  2. You will be assessed by a specially trained nurse before going to Registration. The most seriously ill or injured patients are seen first in our Charlotte & Lewis Steinberg Emergency. 
  3. Please be sure to bring a list of all your prescribed medications and any herbal medications you take. 
  4. The triage nurse will ask about your main concern during this visit, your health history, allergies and other health information. 
  5. Please provide accurate information about your primary health practitioner (for example, your family physician) and family contact information.

Our Emergency team

The team-oriented physicians and staff in our Emergency Medicine Program are trained to provide critically ill adults and children with expert care. Our Emergency Department is staffed by a combination of full-time emergency physicians and family physicians with a special interest in emergency medicine, along with nurses and other health care professionals with expertise in acute care.

Education role

We are a teaching hospital and our health professionals work closely with student practitioners and oversee their care.