Peter Nick’s documentary “The Waiting Room” opens Dec. 14 at the Mary Riepma Ross Media Arts Center. The film is showing as part of a national theatrical release by International Film Circuit.

“The Waiting Room” showcases one 24-hour span at Highland Hospital in Oakland, Calif. The hospital has one of the busiest emergency rooms in the nation, with about 80,000 visits annually.

Focusing on a handful of characters — a young girl with a serious bout of strep throat; a carpet layer suffering from painful bone spurs; a man brought in after overdosing on a number of drugs; and an uninsured patient turned away from Kaiser Permanente on the day of his scheduled surgery to remove a tumor — the film traces the entire course of waiting for, and receiving care, at Highland.

In the documentary, these stories are juxtaposed with the struggle that doctors and nurses face every day in managing a limited number of beds and supplies while providing prompt care and coping with the complexity of the nation’s public health care system.

“The Waiting Room” shows through Dec. 20 at the Ross.

For more information, including show times, go to www.theross.org or call 402-472-5353.