Hospital management software is an important part of the day-to-day operations at any hospital. From scheduling to billing, to patient registration and more - every department in a hospital relies on this type of system. One interesting application for these types of systems is queue management.
Queue management can be difficult if you are relying on manual processes or inefficient workflows that don't take into account your customers' needs. To improve queue times and reduce customer wait time, hospitals should consider using user-centric design principles when designing their queue management.
Especially amidst the COVID-19 pandemic efficient queue management is imperative and needs to be mandatorily in accordance with the COVID protocol.
A user-centric registration process to reduce waiting time
An efficient queue management system design requires understanding the users and their needs. The fields that are to be filled during the registration process need to include all the necessary information which can facilitate a proper booking. For example the personal information of the patient, identification documents, necessary information regarding their health insurance, etc.
A proper and complete registration process through HMS helps to save time and also reduce the waiting time if the software offers a user-centric design without many complications, easy scanning and upload of documents without unnecessary steps or barriers to completing a task. It also helps to considerably reduce the number of staff required for the registration process.
On-time notifications on waiting time
Once the booking for an appointment is completed the patients are provided with a notification on the waiting time, the number of patients in line before them through the token or through SMS alerts helping the authorities to record and document how long patients had to wait at the hospital.
Patients can also make arrangements so that they visit the hospital right in time for their consultation further reducing waiting time spent at the hospital.
Displays at registration and waiting areas
The output for the HMS for queue management can be displayed on screens near registration and waiting areas giving patients a clear idea about when they will be called on, directing them to which department/room they need to go next, etc.
This helps to reduce confusion and to properly channel the patient’s journey within the hospital.
Bonus Benefits
Implementing a proper queue management system in your hospital can enhance patient satisfaction to a great level. Patients get a personalized experience as they are given exclusive attention from the doctors during the time slot allocated for them.
The systematic management of queues reduces a lot of stress on the staff by reducing the need of having to deal with angry and frustrated patients, giving them more time to concentrate on offering better patient care.
Happy patients generate better feedback and increase the revisit rates as well as recommend to peers about the hospital services. This generates more income. The queue management system is cost-effective as it reduces the use of paper, store space for documents, and also the number of staff required for the task as the software can manage the entire patient flow inwards and outwards systematically without errors.
The data and reports obtained from the queue management system also help for the purpose of study for the management of daily operations planning and administrations.
Explore the User-centric design offered by Insta by Practo for patient registration to improve your queue management.
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