The duration of clinical care is a measure of the amount of time during which the patient receives clinical care (is treated and/or observed), excluding any time spent as an admitted patient in the ED. It is measured as the time from the commencement of clinical care to the conclusion of the non-admitted component of care (episode end). The measures relate to Emergency presentations, rather than other types of visits.
Generally, the duration of clinical care was greater for patients who were subsequently admitted to the same hospital than for other patients.