How queue management makes your clinic healthier

Jeff Green |November 13 2019 | 7 min

Qmatic customer wait time analysis and tools helps outpatient clinics keep staff, patients, and providers informed about queue management and other pain points.

If there could be one giant thought bubble over customers at an outpatient clinic it would look something like, “Am I next? Will the person sitting next to me make me sick (or sicker)?”

We’ve all been there. Sitting, waiting, negative thoughts swirling through our heads. "What’s the hold-up? Why did that person get called ahead of me? Please don’t sneeze on me!" On the other side of this equation is the clinic staff. As they look out at the waiting room, the intensity of dozens of eyes trying to make eye contact stare back at them.

This anxious scenario plays out every day all over the world. The question is, “Why?“ Never before have you had more power to meet your customers’ desire for a seamless journey through their experience in your clinic.

More and more, customers know that they can expect efficiency. They are increasingly more vocal about actual and perceived bad customer experiences. Thanks to the digital world, they can go beyond complaining at the dinner table and to friends. They chronicle bad experiences to the world through social media. The cost of failing to deliver great service has never been higher.

Customer wait times analysis helps outpatient healthcare clinics solve the "AM I NEXT?" obstacle to 5-star service. The beauty of queue management system software for healthcare is that it’s laser focused on gathering data points that provide immediate insights into where organizations can improve queue management and other pain points. It’s a perpetual minute-by-minute stream of data rushing conveniently into graphs and reports that detail key information. And even better, this type of solutions brings benefits to both patients and staff.

If you are the CFO of a healthcare clinic

If you are the CFO, you can budget with more confidence and increase patient flow because your team is able to right-size staff for peak times and identify potential obstacles that delay service and increase costs. Queue management solutions like online appointment setting, mobile technology, check-in solutions and digital signage eliminate "AM I NEXT?" anxiety by keeping customers informed. Patients can move more efficiently through their appointment, knowing where they are in the queue without asking the reception desk. In turn, understanding how to manage peak times can lower staff anxiety levels, leading to a happier working environment, and can also enable the clinic to process a higher volume of patients.

If you are a manager of a healthcare clinic

If you are a manager, you don’t have to guess at peak times. You’ll know and have the ability to staff appropriately. And staff will appreciate not having patients stare intensely at the reception desk to determine when they are next. Patients know where they are in the queue via mobile phones, digital signage that displays names or numbers, or other communications like texts. This gives some control back to patients who can leave the waiting room to visit the café or sit outside until they are called to see the doctor. Patients can move easily through various stages, like labs or other tests. And queue management applications is even able to reduce perceived wait time by providing patients with interesting healthcare content and games while they wait. The right queue management technology provides patients with confidence about their visit and reduces interruptions to staff.

If you are a physician or employee at an outpatient clinic

If you are a physician or employee, you can focus on servicing the patient’s medical ailment by moving them efficiently through diagnosis, labs, treatment, and payment. You can see more patients and the patients you see will be less anxious about the process because they are being provided with the information they need to feel more in charge of their journey through your clinic.

Giving patients what they want in their outpatient customer experience makes good business sense. It puts the clinic in line with what patients want – more control and information about the appointment process and the ability to move efficiently through services. And it gives clinics what they need to grow and focus on what they do best – healing their customers.

Learn more about Queue Management

Want to know more about how you could improve queuing in your business? Virtual solutions are the more preferred queuing solutions nowadays, as it provides greater advantage for healthcare facilities and patients. Download our Virtual Queuing Guide for free.