Patients who leave the emergency department without being seen.

Introduction: Patients who present to the ED for care and leave without being seen (LWBS) represent a significant problem. The objective of this study was to determine why patients LWBS, how long they perceived waiting versus actual time waited before leaving, and factors that might have prevented LWBS.

Methods: We conducted a prospective, scripted phone survey of all patients who left without being seen over a two-month period in 2006 at an ED with approximately 65,000 yearly visits.