Edward Hospital in Naperville, Ill., has started a concept of updating its emergency department waiting time by means of text messages, telephone and its Web site.
‘Waiting Time’ is the average time from when a patient checks in and is triaged to the time they are placed in a room where treatment begins. The times are updated every 15 minutes and patients can get the messages and update.
The text address that has been advertised is “ERwait” to 41411; the phone number is 630-527-5969; and the Web site home page, edward.org.
This is a very innovative concept and can be replicated by other hospitals world over because waiting time and queue management is very important with respect to quality of patient care. Such a concept can be used for places where queuing is generally experienced like at OPD waiting area, Billing Counters, Laboratory and Radiology waiting areas where patients wait for investigations and sample collection. IPD bed availability status and can also be updated likewise. OT , OPD and RIS, LIS schedulers may be integrated for status updates and alerts as well.