A man with chest pain is rushed through emergency department doors, the triage nurse recognizing danger signs, the resuscitation team mobilized before he reaches a bed. His life will be saved because the system worked - fast recognition, fast response, fast treatment. A mother brings her feverish child to emergency at 2 AM, worried enough to sacrifice sleep but arriving to find a waiting room full of others with the same idea. Hours pass before they are seen. The fever, it turns out, is a virus that will resolve on its own.