Patients’ time perception in the waiting room of an ambulatory emergency unit: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background Patient satisfaction has become an increasingly important element in a service-oriented healthcare market. Although satisfaction is influenced by many factors, the waiting time to be seen by medical staff has been shown to be one of the key criteria. However, waiting is not an objective experience and several factors can influence its perception. Methods We conducted a questionnaire-based, cross-sectional study among patients attending the emergency unit of a Swiss university hospital in order to explore the key factors influencing wait perception. Results A total of 509 patients participated in the study. Appropriate assessment of emergency level by caregivers, the feeling of being forgotten, respect of privacy, and lack of information on the exact waiting time were identified as significant variables for wait perception. Conclusions Our study confirmed the existence of a ‘golden hour’ when the patient is willing to wait until the medical encounter. In case the wait cannot be limited, an appropriate assessment of the emergency level by caregivers and avoiding the patients of feeling being forgotten are very important factors to avoid a negative perception of the waiting time before seeing a doctor. Trial registration (ID REQ-2016-00555).

Barriers to emergency department usage during the COVID‐19 pandemic

“…The most important reported barriers to ED usage before the pandemic were ED costs, ED wait time, lack of transportation, and lack of insurance, which is consistent with prior research 35,36 . During the pandemic, the most important barriers were concern related to personal exposure to COVID‐19, healthcare costs, and a desire to help “flatten the curve” by avoiding the ED.…”

“…33,34 The most important reported barriers to ED usage before the pandemic were ED costs, ED wait time, lack of transportation, and lack of insurance, which is consistent with prior research. 35,36 During the pandemic, the most important barriers were concern related to personal exposure to COVID-19, healthcare costs, and a desire to help "flatten the curve" by avoiding the ED. The most important intervention identified to alleviate concern about personal exposure to COVID-19 during an ED visit was placing waiting room chairs >6 feet apart, followed by telemedicine screening by phone and/or video to determine the neces- It is conceivable that barriers to ED usage during the ongoing and future pandemics could be mitigated by the interventions identified in this study (Table 4)…”

Patients’ expectations and experiences of being involved in their own care in the emergency department: A qualitative interview study

“…Nevertheless, waiting times were usually considered to be unreasonably long in relation to the nature of the visit. It was not only the length of the wait that led to irritation and affected waiting, but also information on what was expected, the current environment, patient comfort and interaction with the staff, which is a phenomenon that is described in other studies (Spechbach et al, 2019;Xie & Or, 2017). It was believed that these factors contributed to the negative experience of waiting.…”

A systematic mixed studies review of patient experiences in the ED

“…[116,117] Yet, much of the research about ED waiting relates to differences between perceived and actual wait times. [39,[118][119][120][121] The patient's psychological experience of waiting has comparably received little attention, and warrants greater exploration. This finding also challenges the utility of capturing waiting times as part of patient experience evaluations.…”