Be Aware of the Effects Your Bottlenecks Have on Your Patients

Any service will have some downtime or wait time. It’s safe to say you will encounter block necks in your office. What is a bottleneck? A bottleneck is a part of a process that constrains or restricts capacity and typically results in queues.

Queues aren’t much fun and the time spent in one can hurt the entire customer experience. Sometimes we tolerate the queue and other times we don’t. Think back to the last time you had to wait for a flight or at a restaurant. How did you feel about the waiting time? How did the wait make you perceive the entire experience? Your patients experience the same feelings when they wait in your clinic.

Given the fluid and dynamic nature of clinical medicine, bottlenecks and queues will occur. But we can plan for them and help our patients experience those queues more positively.

The Effects of Queues

When your patients experience bottlenecks, they are spending time that doesn’t accomplish anything. We’ve all experienced queues ourselves from visiting the doctor to waiting for a flight to waiting at a restaurant to sitting at the DVM. As we go through the effect of queues on the perception of the patient, think of a time when you waited a long time, but it didn’t seem long and a time when time seemed to stop altogether. Use your feelings to think about how you might affect the queues in your practice.

1. Perceived waiting times. When we ask people to wait, their perception of the length of time they wait doesn’t always correlate to the actual time they spend waiting. In fact, perceived waiting times are greater than actual time spent waiting. This is because we live in an instant gratification society. We don’t like waiting, and anytime we are forced to wait, we become unhappy. Keep that in mind as you work to relieve your bottlenecks. You won’t be able to eliminate the queues, but simply waiting will distort their perception of reality.
2. Unoccupied time while waiting. Some of the time when we wait, we can do something else to occupy the time. We can read a book, watch the news, do a puzzle, talk with a friend or family member, or complete a bunch of necessary forms. However, there are times when we are waiting with nothing to do. Our unoccupied time will feel greater than occupied time. It’s this time that seems to crawl. Waiting ten minutes doing something will feel shorter than waiting ten minutes staring at the walls. To counter this, look for ways to occupy the time of your waiting patients, it might be giving them paperwork to complete, providing reading material, turning on the news or other programs, or encouraging them to bring someone with to the appointment they can chat with while they wait.
3. Anxiety makes waiting worse. Feeling anxious will only make the wait seem longer. An anxious, worried patient will perceive their wait as much longer than it was. Look for ways to help your patients relax and be at ease. Try to help them be at ease before their arrival. Have them bring a good friend or loved one along to help comfort them and relax them. It’ll be balancing act between what information you release before the appointment, but be aware of how you and your staff present the appointment. You might unwittingly be contributed to their anxiety.
4. Uncertainty makes waiting worse. Not knowing what is going to happen makes the waiting seem much longer. I know this to be true in the pre-operative area in our hospitals. Patients who know what will happen seem like worried and more content while waiting when compared to those patients who don’t know what the plan is. Do what you can to be as clear as possible about what will take place with your patients.
5. Unexplained waiting is the worst. Anytime you or your patient has to wait and the reason is unexplained is when I see tempers flare. If you know you’re running behind schedule, have your staff inform your patients of the delay. Your patients might not be happy but their perception of the wait time will be shorter than if you leave them sitting in the room without an explanation for the wait.
6. The value of what they are waiting for The greater they value the service, the longer they will wait. Think back to the last time you decided not to wait at a restaurant. Why did you do that? Likely because the value of the food wasn’t worth the time you’d spend waiting for the food. Your patients do a similar calculation in your waiting room. Create the best value you can for your patients.
7. Waiting alone makes waiting seem longer When we wait by ourselves, the time spent seems much longer than if we wait with someone else. Therefore, encourage your patients to bring someone along with them. It’ll provide multiple benefits and help improve the perception of your service.
8. Waiting in discomfort makes waiting much longer. Discomfort of any kind will make the wait seem much longer. Do what you can to comfort your patients as they wait. Music, lighting, and if possible medication can help put your patients at ease. Do what it takes and is safe to help comfort them while they wait.
9. New patients experience the wait longer The very first time you experience a wait, it will seem longer than subsequent times. This happened to my children when we went to an amusement park. The first time they waited for a ride, the time seemed to crawl for them. However, despite the time waiting on subsequent rides being the same, they didn’t seem to mind as much. I’m sure it’s because of many of the variables I’ve already discussed and the fact that they were new to the ride. The same thing will happen to new patients in your clinic. Have your office staff prepare new patients for the anticipated wait times, give them things to do, and folks to talk to while they wait. When they visit again, the wait time might be the same, but they likely won’t experience it as the same.

Queues are inevitable, and bottlenecks will forever exist in clinical medicine. However, you can work to increase the satisfaction of your patients by improving their perception of their wait times. Use the points above to help your patients experience your queues in a better manner.