Patient Flow Wait Times Discourage Trust
- 7/6/2010
- Author: Janet Pimentel
- Category: The Source Blog
- 7745 Views
- 0 Comments
A crowded emergency room--and feeling like you are waiting too long--can sure make a patient and their loved ones feel frustrated. I experienced it recently when accompanying a sick elderly parent to a hospital emergency room. I kept looking down at my watch and kept asking the nurse at the desk how long it will be before my mom could see someone. Waiting in line at the grocery store or movie theater ticket booth is expected, but you don’t want that kind of wait to get care for a loved one. When it finally was our turn, the staff seemed stressed and rushed as they took care of my mom and asked us both questions. I couldn’t help but wonder if the staff was doing everything they were supposed to be doing because they seemed to be moving too fast. I lost a little bit of trust in them. Ironically, part of me felt glad that I chose patient flow strategies as the cover story for the July issue of The Source newsletter. The article offers several systemwide strategies that hospitals can use to help direct patients in a timely manner to the best place in the hospital to care for them. My hope is that the article’s how-to suggestions will keep other patients from what I and my mom experienced. If your hospital has any other how-to suggestions to help minimize or eliminate patient flow, please send me your ideas.
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