All hypotheses testing were two-tailed. A P value of < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. The

sample size was determined on the basis of an a priori power calculation. Using previously published data from and pilot data from our ED to estimate standard deviations, power calculations were made at alpha = 0.05 (type 1 error) and beta = 0.10 (type 2 error) [18]. The sample size needed to detect a change in the waiting time of 5 minutes, 10 minutes and 15 minutes was 204, 362 and 814 patients respectively. The sample size of our study was approximately Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical 10,485 (4,779 patients before the FTA and 5,706 after). Our study was therefore adequately powered. Ethics Prior to data collection, Institutional Review Board ethics approval was obtained from the study hospital. Ethical Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical principles were applied to the storage, security, destruction, and retention of data. Data collection, analysis and storage were in accordance with the Data Protection

Act of 1988 [26]. Results The study population consisted of mainly UAE nationals as this was the mandate of our hospital during the time of the study. Table ​Table11 shows the baseline characteristics of the study sample. Pediatric patients accounted for a substantial proportion (about 40%) of the ED visits, during both study periods. The percentage of missing data for 2005 was 0.000021% (n = 1) while the missing data for 2006 Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical was 0.0033% (n = 19). Table 1 Baseline characteristics of study participants before and after FTA implementation Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical Statistically significant reductions in both mean WTs and mean LOS of non-urgent (CTAS 4/5) patients were found after the implementation of a FTA (Tables ​(Tables22 and ​and3).3). A statistically significant reduction in the LWBS rates was seen post-FTA implementation, Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical whereas mortality rates were unchanged (Table ​(Table4).4). In addition the FTAs’ impact on urgent patients was favorable as the results showed a statistically significantly decrease in the

mean WTs of urgent patients (CTAS 2/3) and a statistically significant decrease in the mean LOS of CTAS 2 patients (Tables ​(Tables22 and ​and33). Table 2 Mean waiting times (minutes) for CTAS 2, 3, 4 and 5 compared before and after the opening of the fast track) Table 3 Mean LOS (minutes) for CTAS 2, 3, 4 and 5 compared before and after the opening of the fast track Table 4 Quality measures of LWBS rates and mortality rates compared before and after the fast track area opened The percent of patients in CTAS 4 and 5 admitted from the ED into the PD184352 (CI-1040) inpatient department was 2%. The case mix included patients without circulatory and respiratory difficulties, who were ambulatory, who were unlikely to Oligomycin A cost require intravenous fluids or medications and whose expected treatment time was 1 hour or less. It also excluded children < 1 year. The vast majority of patients (>60%) seen in both 2005 and 2006 were in the non urgent (CTAS 4/5) category. By breaking the 24 hour day into 4 time cycles i.e.