{"id":15118,"date":"2018-03-15T16:14:14","date_gmt":"2018-03-15T21:14:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/about\/?p=15118"},"modified":"2023-10-30T14:12:46","modified_gmt":"2023-10-30T19:12:46","slug":"how-to-improve-waiting-room-experience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/resources\/blog\/article\/how-to-improve-waiting-room-experience\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Improve Wait Time for Patients"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a survey<\/a> commissioned last year by UX-design agency Sequence, 85 percent of those surveyed describe seeing their doctor between 10 and 30 minutes past their scheduled appointment time, and 63 percent say that waiting is \u201cthe most stressful part of the doctor appointment experience.\u201d \u00a0As the report points out, \u201cthere is room for improvement.\u201d<\/p>\n

The waiting room is a logical place to start\u2014and an important one. Medicine is complicated, so patients resort to evaluating healthcare by what they can understand, according<\/a> to\u00a0marketing expert Leonard Berry. That means how welcoming the space feels and how pleasant the receptionist is\u2014essentially the features you\u2019ll find in a waiting room.<\/p>\n

You have two ways to enhance your patients\u2019 time here:<\/b> First, by decreasing the actual<\/em> time patients spend in that room and, second, by limiting the perceived<\/em> time they spend in it.\u00a0 While the latter may seem irrelevant, even silly, it\u2019s, in fact, not. As a 2008 Cornell University study<\/a>\u00a0concluded, perceived wait time affects patient satisfaction even more than the actual wait time.<\/strong>\u00a0Here are a few ways to\u00a0 tackle this.<\/p>\n

Add calming elements and eliminate stressful ones<\/h2>\n

\u201cAnxiety makes waits feel longer, \u201d says Tanya Paz<\/a>, senior designer at CAMA Inc.<\/a>, an interior-design studio. As the Cornell University study<\/a> reports, \u201cpatient perception of quality of care, anxiety, feeling cared for and likelihood of recommending the practice to others were twice as high\u201d in the spaces that were ranked as most attractive compared to those that were ranked least attractive.\u00a0A few simple ways to up your waiting room\u2019s appeal:<\/strong><\/p>\n

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  1. Straighten up throughout the day.<\/b> Dirty cups on a table can bring down ratings no matter how good the physician.<\/li>\n
  2. Eliminate TV.<\/b> Or provide headsets for those who want to watch. Otherwise, TV\u2019s \u201cdon\u2019t give people a choice; it\u2019s sort of forced upon them,\u201d says Ed Bottomley<\/a>, a partner at CAMA Inc.,<\/li>\n
  3. Upgrade your reading material.<\/b> Consider offering a few thoughtfully chosen coffee-table books (instead of magazines that quickly get old), or tablets with magazines, newspapers, and health apps uploaded. Consolidate pamphlets and pharmaceutical ads into a binder or in one area of the room.<\/li>\n
  4. Let in nature.<\/b>\u00a0“If you have the flexibility, put the waiting area where there are windows,” says Rosalyn Cama<\/a>, president of CAMA Inc., and author of Evidence- Based Healthcare Design<\/a>. <\/em>A glimpse of the outdoors can feel like a reprieve from the stress indoors. And as with artwork depicting nature and actual plants, it gives people something familiar to look at, and familiarity provides a feeling comfort.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Vary the seating<\/h2>\n

    Group chairs together to give families a feeling of privacy and comfort. If there\u2019s a TV, place only a portion of your seating around it. Include solo spaces elsewhere for those who want privacy. Add chairs around a table. \u00a0“If relevant to your practice, make sure chairs have arms for older patients to get up more easily,” says Greg Knighton<\/a>, president of Behind the Office Door, a Wisconsin-based office furniture retailer.<\/p>\n

    Let your patients get stuff done<\/h2>\n

    According to a recent\u00a0survey<\/a> by The Arnold P. Gold Foundation<\/a>, a group that promotes humanistic healthcare, patients will wait patiently for 20 minutes, but after that they start to feel that you\u2019re wasting their time. The\u00a0American Journal of Managed Care<\/em><\/a>\u00a0put a dollar value<\/a> on that time. Taking into account the exam, travel, paperwork, in addition to the wait time, the authors arrived at $43, which is more than the average out-of-pocket cost for a visit. To curb the time wasted, make your waiting room is work-friendly. A table (think Starbucks) in an area with less traffic encourages laptop use. Outlets keep patients\u2019 devices charged.<\/p>\n

    Be transparent<\/h2>\n

    In a survey<\/a> conducted by Software Advice<\/a>, 80 percent of people said they would feel less frustrated if only they were simply told in advance what that wait time might be. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of mystery in healthcare delivery,\u201d says Thomas Ullman, M.D.<\/a>, Chief Medical Officer of Mount Sinai Doctors Faculty Practice. \u201cWhen we help people become a more educated, engaged patient, we build a bond of trust and a partnership, and the patients become more active participants in their own care.\u201d This can start even before the patient sees you:<\/p>\n

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    1. Consider a wait-time board.<\/b> What feeds into waiting-room frustration is that patients feel they have little knowledge or control of the situation. To improve matters, Mount Sinai Health System, in New York City, has instituted a wait-time board in many of their provider offices\u2014displaying the doctor, her photo, and whether he\u2019s on schedule (if not, it also displays the number of minutes he\u2019s running behind).<\/li>\n
    2. Text the status.<\/b> Sixty-one percent of those surveyed<\/a> by Sequence said that they\u2019d appreciate a text alert about the wait status, even if they\u2019ve already left their house. After all, this lets them feel less rushed. It allows them time to fit in an errand or maybe even stop by a coffee bar before heading to your office\u2014and isn\u2019t waiting always a little easier with an chai latte in hand?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
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