Will Waiting Time be a thing of the Past?

By Rudrani Ghosh

Who really wants to wait even in the nicest of waiting rooms? What strategies can be implemented to beat down the waiting time or can waiting time be completely eroded?

In the hospital journey maze, there is nothing such as "Waiting times: Good or Bad?" there is only one reverberating question of "How bad is it?"

No one wants to turn up on time for a scheduled meeting knowing that he has to wait for the other party to arrive, yet patients often find themselves lining up and waiting for the doctor to see them. In a study conducted by Software Advice, it was found that out of the total 5003 surveyed patients, 97 percent of the participants are frustrated by the long waiting time at the doctor's office. In another study conducted by Altarum Institute, it was found that on average, patients spend about 45 minutes traveling and waiting for health services, and these travel and wait times account for more than 50 percent of the total time actually spent on receiving care.

How will you envision going to the hospital ten years down the line?

When a middle-aged working woman was asked this question, she responded by stating that “I want the waiting room with lots of chairs to be the first thing to be eliminated ten years down the line. There should be proper scheduling done so that those people who need to come to see the doctor, turn up at the given time at which they will be seen by the physician— something that is a little bit closer to 'one in, one out' than what you see with these huge waiting areas."

The pesky world of waiting times in healthcare not only causes trouble to the patients but also stems from economic repercussions for the organizations. The Altarum 2019 report states that the long wait times amount to $89 billion annually in missed opportunities. Thus, with the rising cost, healthcare organizations are looking for new models where they provide efficient care and triage clinical presentation that does not require an in-person visit. Virtual platforms like MayaMD.AI can be a perfect fit to manage many of the patients who do not require to be seen in person but still need medical attention and consultation.

According to Mr. Neeraj Lal, Group Senior Vice President, Medicover Hospitals, “There is a strong correlation between less waiting time and higher satisfaction level of the patients.The financial implication of high waiting time is that the hospital loses out on patients if the slot management is not proper.”

To make waiting times bearable, healthcare organizations often offer reading materials and tablets for internet access. However, the question remains: Do these attempts at diverting patients' attention solve the issue of waiting time?

Can it be eliminated forever?

According to Mr. Aman Singh Ahluwalia, Chief Operating Officer (COO), HCG Manavata Cancer Hospitals, “Being in hospital sector where we are involved in saving the lives of patients by applying sound clinical jurisprudence, carrying out routine complex clinical interventions, counselling patients in their pain and distress, addressing their numerous concerns and questions with empathy and patience; things cannot always be timed by a clock as would probably be in the case of manufacturing sector. Certain amount of waiting time will always be at play. At our hospitals, OPD waiting time is around 20 minutes but IPD and OPD satisfaction are very heartening (more than 90%).  What needs to be understood is that it is not the inadvertent, long waiting time in some hospitals which causes patient dissatisfaction but it is lack of communication about it from the hospital to the patients that proves to be a dampener.”

He further elaborates that, “If a patient's appointment is running late due to unavoidable clinical or non-clinical circumstances; the hospital must readily and earnestly intimate the same to the patient with their sincere, empathetic apologies. Most patients are nice, rational human beings; they are also aware of hospitals' exigencies and will more often than not understand the delay as long as they are informed timely and nicely. It all comes down to effective communication.”

In the research report conducted by Software Advice titled “How to treat patient wait time woes,” it was found that 80 percent of the people would be less frustrated if they knew how long the wait would be and a personal apology from the doctor or hospital side would minimize frustration for 70 percent of patients.

No waiting in waiting rooms anymore

To address the issue of waiting time, Mr. Neeraj Lal says, “We have installed the queue management system in the hospital to beat the waiting time of accessibility of OPD care. The queue management system embodies the BookMyShow app where the patient can book an appointment with the doctor by seeing the various slots depending on the specialty. The list of the scheduled patients is then handed over to the doctor in well advance so that the lag does not happen from the physician’s side.” He further elaborates by saying, "About 85% of the patients come via a queue management system. We have also devised the big screen as we see in airports and railways (where the patients can see their names, waiting number, and the other consultation details)—which has helped us to manage the patient queue appropriately. The queue management system has also helped us during COVID times to schedule an appointment in a decent way; so that at a given point not many patients and children are waiting in the queue."

The promise of remote care and telemedicine

With remote digital solutions and telemedicine, waiting time can be too some extent eliminated while having faster access to quality care, right at the patient's convenience. In a research conducted by the University of Iowa, it was analyzed that with telemedicine services available, waiting time can be shortened to 6 minutes on average as those facilities without offering telemedicine. It also helps doctors to spend less time transitioning between patients. Additionally, using telehealth and remote care can prevent late arrivals and no shows which can in turn improve the efficiency of the services.

Even though it is not possible to eliminate waiting time from the healthcare sector, hospitals must adapt to new care delivery models and technology and must improve on communication with the stakeholders to a larger extent to offer a more fluid experience.