Nobody likes to be kept waiting. Most people are happy to show up for an appointment a little early and wait if their appointment is on time, but if there is a delay, tensions are quick to rise. Your waiting room isn’t just an area intended to house patients as they wait for a healthcare professional to see them, it’s a place that needs to make them comfortable, keep them happy and stress free, so as to help make the patient experience as good as possible.
First Impressions Matter
The first thing patients are going to see in your practice is your waiting room, so if it doesn’t make a good impression then you may be starting off any patient relationship on the back foot. A waiting room doesn’t have to be a luxurious space replete with all the mod-cons, but it should leave a favourable impression in the mind of anyone who waits in it.
How you achieve this good first impression may vary depending on the size of your waiting room, the number of patients your waiting room can hold, location and even the nature of your practice. If your waiting room has windows, natural light can always make a place look more inviting. If you can see green or trees from the window, so much the better - being able to see green spaces has been shown to reduce overall stress levels.
Many waiting rooms look functionally the same - rows of thinly padded, easily sanitised chairs and some magazine racks with reading material that was current a decade before. Some may have a water cooler or a small play area for children, but most lack character.
Adding character to your waiting room can help put patients more at ease and make them feel more comfortable. Patient’s can’t really see what goes on behind closed doors, but will often start to draw an opinion from their experience in the waiting room. Furnishings that match the colouration of your practice logo, may be a way to individualise your waiting room. Having photos of the staff and practitioners in the waiting room may also help humanise the space.
Finding a balance between form and functionality is important. A sterile, orderly room may be an efficient use of space but it’s unlikely to make patients feel comfortable, either physically or emotionally. Conversely, a plush, busy room may be more approachable and comforting, but it may give the impression that the practice is in some way unprofessional.
Patients are People
People have different needs when it comes to their comfort. Some people are fine with a simple stool, but others, such as the elderly or those with mobility issues may find that style of seating uncomfortable at best and downright unusable at worst. A wide range of people are likely to use your waiting room, so catering to a wide range of needs will definitely help keep your patients happy.
If you’re unsure about the comfort offered by your waiting room, put yourself in your patient’s shoes. Take some time and sit in the waiting room. If you find yourself uncomfortable, that’s a pretty good sign that you have a problem. Likewise, if you have difficulty getting into and out of chairs, navigating the space because of clutter, or the like, a redesign, or at least a reordering may be in order.
Comfort is Important but so is Productivity
People are far less likely to feel like they are sitting around wasting their time if they have the opportunity to feel like they are doing something worthwhile. Making concessions to this end and giving patients the ability to be productive can go a long way to reducing the stress or aggravation that may come with waiting.
Free WiFi is a good first step to offering some productivity, but for a small outlay you can go further than that, such as charging stations for electronic devices, or a few desks that can be used by people stuck waiting in to get some work done.
Keep Patients Informed
While reducing wait times is obviously the most effective way to keep patients in the waiting room happy, it’s not always possible. As organised as your practice may be, there are just some delays that are unavoidable. While a good number of patients may understand the unavoidable nature of some delays on a fundamental level, that doesn’t necessarily mean that they are happy to deal with them.
One way to effectively mitigate or at least assuage aggravation caused by delays is to keep the waiting room informed of any updates, changes in schedule or delays. This can be as simple as having a staff member designated as a waiting room liaison charged with talking to patients to let them know about delays
Unexpected Luxuries
Small, unexpected luxuries can go a long way to helping patients feel comfortable waiting. Free and easily accessible WiFi is all but expected in waiting rooms nowadays, but there are some things that are simple to implement and haven’t become commonplace.
Having coffee making facilities can make someone feel welcome and also act as a distraction while waiting - making a cup of coffee may take a few minutes, and drinking it may take another 10 to 15, making the time fly by.
Having a small refrigerator with bottled water, or an easily accessible water cooler can have a similar effect, especially during the hot summer months.
Don’t Tether Patients to the Waiting Room
If waiting times are long, either due to unexpected delays or lack of availability for walk-in patients, having a way to untether patients from the waiting room is a great way to stop a long wait from being a cause of anger or discontent. Around 20 minutes is generally considered the maximum amount of time a person will wait before frustration begins to set in, so if a wait is going to be longer than that, letting a patient walk around to go and do something else, especially if your practice is in a shopping centre or urban area, can keep the waiting room uncrowded and waiting patients happy.
How you recall the patient is up to you, but a short phone call or SMS around 10 minutes before their appointment is easy and effective. With current social distancing restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, most waiting rooms can only accommodate a limited number of patients. Allowing patients to roam is an excellent way to maintain bookings without crowding the waiting room.
