Improving Patients Experience in Peadiatric Emergency Waiting Room

Stud Health Technol Inform. 2016:225:535-9.

Abstract

When visiting the emergency department, the perception of the time spent in the waiting room before the beginning of the care, may influence patients' experience. Based on models of service evaluation, highlighting the importance of informing people about their waiting process and their place in the queue, we have developed an innovative information screen aiming at improving perception of time by patients. Following an iterative process, a group of experts including computer scientists, ergonomists and caregivers designed a solution adapted to the pediatric context. The solution includes a screen displaying five lanes representing triage levels. Patients are represented by individual avatars, drawn sequentially in the appropriate line. The interface has been designed using gamification principle, aiming at increasing acceptance, lowering learning curve and improving satisfaction. Questionnaire based evaluation results revealed high satisfaction from the 278 respondents even if the informative content was not always completely clear.

MeSH terms

  • Emergency Service, Hospital / statistics & numerical data*
  • Hospital Communication Systems / statistics & numerical data*
  • Humans
  • Patient Education as Topic
  • Patient Satisfaction / statistics & numerical data*
  • Pediatric Emergency Medicine / statistics & numerical data*
  • Quality Improvement / organization & administration
  • Switzerland
  • Time Perception
  • User-Computer Interface*
  • Waiting Lists*