No one likes to wait in lengthy queues for long hours, especially in busy places like hospitals. Patients are already so anxious when they arrive at the hospitals and seeing the long queues makes them feel more stressed. Sometimes they become so frustrated that they leave and choose other healthcare providers. This spoils patients’ experience and creates a hospital’s bad reputation. That is why hospital management must follow smart queuing strategies to improve the patient flow. In this guest blog, we will discuss some effective queuing methods from using a patient queue management system to allocating proper duties to staff. Let us understand this in more depth and start reading the blog now!
Effective Queuing Strategies for Smooth Patient Flow in Hospitals
Here we go, below are the smart techniques to follow for smooth patient flow in hospitals. Check these pointers now to understand more!
Follow Triage System
The first way is to follow a triage system at the hospitals. It is a smart approach where the staff calls patients based on the severity of their medical condition. This means the patient with a more critical health condition is given immediate attention and prior treatment than others. The triage method approach reduces the chances of any delays and provides each customer with a secure treatment.
For example: In the emergency department, the nurses divide the patients into urgent, semi-urgent, and non-urgent. Then call the urgent ones first followed by semi and non-urgent patients. This approach prevents any life-threatening incidents and results in smooth patient flow.
Allow Online Appointments
One of the longest and crowded lines in hospitals is at the appointment booking counter. Several patients stand there to book their appointments with their preferred doctors. This takes staff a lot of time and sometimes results in booking errors like double bookings. The best alternative for this is to provide an online appointment booking facility. Allow patients to book appointments with their preferred doctor. Also, Give them the convenience of choosing the timing of booking a slot that fits their schedule well. This prevents patients from arriving earlier at hospitals to book appointments and avoids long queues. Also, this approach prevents staff from maintaining countless appointment records so they can focus on providing excellent customer service.
Simplify Registration Process
Most patients spend their time in hospitals at the registration counter. It is the entry place where they stand in long lines to get themselves registered. They give their details and staff note each patient’s details in manual registers. This process is lengthy and wastes a lot of time, which results in long waiting times.
Therefore, it is essential to simplify this registration process. The administration can use electronic registration systems. The system automatically saves patients’ details such as name, registration number, booking slot, consulting doctor, etc. This eliminates the need to enter every detail on paper and saves time. Patients don’t have to stand in long queues and get quick assistance.
Use Healthcare Queue Management
The Next most effective strategy is to use a queue management system in a hospital for smoother patient flow. It is a cloud-based software that automates the routine administrative tasks. The software reduces staff’s work burden and provides features to improve patients’ experience.
Self-check-in Process
The queue management system allows patients to self-check on the hospital premises. They simply scan the QR code outside or enter basic details on the kiosk system. This opens a new tab where patient selects their appointment with the consulted doctor. The system provides every patient with a unique ticket number. This number shows their queue position, which reduces the chances of pushing & shoving in the queue and results in smoother patient flow.
Automatic Booking Reminders
No-shows are the most common and major problem that hospitals face. The healthcare queue management reduces this case with automatic booking reminders features. Here, the system sends automatic appointment reminders to patients a few days before the booking date. These reminders are personalized and sent through emails or text messages. Patients remember their booking date and come on time. This helps to avoid the formation of crowds.
Centralizes Patient Data
Daily countless patients come to hospitals and it is essential to keep their records. However, saving these records in manual registers results in human errors. So, the system provides a centralized database to save patients’ details. This saves service time when patients come for registration and
Better Resouce Allocation
Hospitals are places where emergencies arrive on time. So, they need proper resources such as beds, medical staff, medicines, etc. Proper resource management prevents treatment delays and results in the smooth running of operations. Hospitals can use a patient queue management system that monitors the performance of all operations and provides detailed reports. These reports track what resources are available, and what are needed. This results in the smooth running of operations and prevents long queues.
Conclusion
Thus, the above-mentioned are the best hospital queuing strategies. Following these tips simplifies administrative tasks and the smooth running of operations. This prevents the formation of long queues and results in the smooth running of operations.
