Staff can lessen anxiety and resentment and improve the patient experience by keeping patients informed, explaining the reason for the delay and providing diversions.
You know from experience that when a person is worried, sick, pressured, nervous, in pain, bored, uncomfortable, hungry, restless, or fearful, every minute of waiting feels like an hour. Waiting for appointments, waiting to see the doctor, waiting for results, waiting for a callback, waiting for an answer, waiting, waiting, waiting—all kinds of waits irritate and stir resentment toward the care team. Just eavesdrop in a waiting room for a few minutes, and you’ll hear, “They think their time is more valuable than mine! They have no respect for my time!”
Advances in technology have destroyed what small tolerance people had for waiting under these circumstances. E-mail, texting Federal Express, Priority Mail, and the like have changed people’s expectations. We want it now.
Growing impatience makes a positive patient experience awfully difficult to achieve. As consumers become understandably and increasingly demanding, speed has become a powerful competitive factor in patient satisfaction.
Alas, what are we to do?
The Psychology of Waiting
When people are waiting, they are under a lot of stress.
The Service Encounter, edited by J. Czepiel (Lexington Books, 1984), talks about the psychology of waiting. Consider these facts about waiting, along with ideas to reduce the stress:
Anxiety makes waiting seem longer. We need to figure out words and ways to reduce anxiety. For example:
- “If you need to use the restroom, don’t hesitate. You won’t lose your turn.”
- “If you need to let someone know how long you’ll be, you’re welcome to use this phone or your cell phone.”
- “Would you like to read a magazine?”
Waits of uncertain length are harder to tolerate. Too often, staff say nothing about the upcoming wait because they are embarrassed about it or they don’t know how to estimate it. Nevertheless, we need to write message points that staff can use to advise patients of the waiting time. For instance,
“The doctor will be able to see you within 20 minutes.” Or
“It can take up to four hours before the doctor can see you because some procedures take unexpectedly long periods of time.”
Waiting feels longer when you don’t know the reason for the wait. People sit there stewing when we don’t explain why we’re keeping them waiting. We need to make regular updates by staff a routine, not an afterthought.
“Mrs. Jones, I realize you’ve been waiting for nearly two hours. I’m really sorry. I want to explain and give you an update. We’ve had ambulances bring in trauma victims through another entrance. These people have needed a lot of our staff’s attention because they are in life-or-death situations. I’m sorry this has meant that you’re waiting a long time. At this point, I’m estimating that it could be another 90 minutes.”
People are much less tolerant when their wait feels unfair. Let patients know why they’re waiting longer than others:
“Mr. Hardy, I want to explain why some people who arrived after you might be taken before you. People in this area are here for three different services. You will be taken when the team that provides the specific service you came for is ready. In the meantime, some other services might be ready for the people here for those services. So, they are taken before you.”
The more valuable the service, the longer a person is willing to wait. This is no excuse for being callous about keeping people waiting. Just because they lack alternative providers or want
this doctor or
this service, it doesn’t make it acceptable to perpetuate long waits. Fix the flow to reduce the delays out of respect for the patients, even if the delays aren’t causing you to lose business.
Pre-process waits feel much longer than in-process waits. It’s important to get the care process going, even if there will be delays along the way. Many emergency departments do bedside registration, have staging areas or have triage nurses initiate tests immediately so that the person can be in process right away, even though there might then be long delays. In outpatient areas, people have an easier time waiting in the exam room than they do in the reception area because they feel that at least they are
in process.
Waiting alone feels longer than waiting in a group. It helps the time pass if family and friends can keep a patient company during any delays. If you have a policy that prevents family and friends from joining patients in the exam room, reconsider it. Figure out a way to make it possible for other people to be with the patient.
Occupied time feels shorter than unoccupied time. When people don’t have anything to do, the wait time feels longer. We need to use our considerable creativity and find ways to keep people occupied while they’re waiting.
If people think you feel really bad about inconveniencing them, they will be less angry at you. We need to help the individuals on our teams eat humble pie and sincerely apologize to patients and families when we keep them waiting, no matter whose fault it is.
Click here for a 5-Point Plan-of-Action for Easing Wait Time and the Patient Experience.
Click here for Sample Message Points for Dealing with Long Waits. 
