3 real-world views on the challenges behind patient waiting times.

Healthcare just isn't a 9-to-5 job.


It's virtually a 24-hour on-call activity where every aspect of patient care counts. When doctors, nurses, IT and healthcare professionals are constantly on their toes, needing to be present: physically, mentally, and even virtually for the patient.

The challenges occur when a healthcare institution cannot manage every key demand along the patient journey effectively, from Know your Patient Registration to receiving patient feedback, owing to a poorly planned internal healthcare ecosystem.

A lack of not paying attention to these key factors lead to poor patient engagement, delayed waiting times, late appointments and no shows.

But that's just one part of the story. What about the problem behind the problem? Or rather: what challenges do you as a doctor face in your everyday routine when rushing to manage a patient’s waiting time effectively throughout the patient journey?

We dug deeper to uncover some internal truths and uncovered what a doctor's schedule looks like when undergoing such a challenge in meeting patient’s needs effectively.Something which would have been avoided by adapting proven patient experience platforms such as firstpass.

So, this time, we tackled this issue by speaking to a few seasoned doctors and some noted healthcare experts across the world on Quora.

It’s the kind of social listening that threw up some key ‘real world’ insights.

Here are 3 testimonials that stood out in this context:

Testimony #1 : "Biggest issue? It's late patients!"

William Michael Fenton

Studied Anesthesiology at University of California, San Diego

“Biggest issue for me was late patients.
Admin would not let us cancel a late patient so if a patient showed up 45 minutes late, I was now 45 minutes behind.
This obviously led to all patients after that being 45 minutes late to be seen.
The obvious solution is to reschedule late patients, but Admin did not allow that."

Testimony #2 : "Every patient wants to be seen, assessed and evaluated at the same time!"

Susan Coleman

Former Ret RN, ACLS, Critical Care, Oncology, & AORN Cert

“Here are some of the challenges that have always existed since medical practices were established:

  • Many patients want to be seen, assessed, evaluated, & treated in a compressed amount of time. We strongly resonate with her point, since most of all patients need all the guidance they can get while being engaged constantly, a point we cover in our blog on patient engagement.
  • Frequent interruptions by phone calls and questions from their office staff.
  • Emergencies that arise with other patients that interrupt hospital rounds and office activity.
  • Needing to meet with other professionals & drug/equipment company reps.
  • Needing to eat lunch and hydrate.
  • Needing to spend time in the bathroom on personal business.

There are probably several more that aren't coming to mind but just these are enough to throw a tightly packed schedule off and increase waiting times. It's getting harder and harder for people to find a doctor for their primary care and I don't know what the solution is or expect it to improve anytime soon.”

Testimony #3 : “Chronic conditions could affect waiting times…”

Dr. Nisha Nair,

Pharmacovigilance   |   Medical Writer   |   Regulatory Writer   |   Trainer   |   Subject matter expert   |   Speaker

Doctors face several challenges regarding patient waiting times. Some of these include:

  • Managing a large number of patients that can lead to longer waiting times.
  • Constraints in staffing, equipment, or facilities can impact efficiency and waiting times.
  • Patients with complex or chronic conditions may require more time, affecting wait times for others.
  • Inefficiencies in scheduling or clinic workflow can contribute to delays and longer waits.

Dr. Nair also suggests some key solutions that include:

  • Optimizing appointment scheduling that can help manage patient flow.
  • Collaboration with other healthcare professionals that can help manage workload.
  • Using digital tools for patient management and communication that can improve efficiency.

You can discover how firstpass and it's modules work together using the power of predictive AI in improving such challenges across the overall healthcare ecosystem,
especially regarding the entire patient journey. More importantly, you will discover how it can provide you with a customised solution for your organization.

To know more visit: firstpass

Note: The three views expressed in the article, apart from the writer of this piece are actual testimonials from key people in the industry and featured on Quora. Permissions to reproduce the same have been mutually agreed with the respective people who participated in our social listening endeavour for this article, and are final and binding.