As I was reading through some information on EMR’s and their ability to schedule appointments I ran accross an idea that was just too good to not post. In fact, I wondered why this hadn’t been implemented by my EMR. An email tomorrow will hopefully create a nice enhancement request.

Why doesn’t your EMR display how long the patient has been waiting. In fact, it could show how long the patient has been waiting since he/she got there or even since the nurse finished with the patient. I know that no one likes waiting in the waiting room or in the exam room for someone to finally help you.

This should be very simple. In fact, with my current EMR this should be a very simple thing to implement. All of the data is there since we check the patient in when they arrive and the doctor could check the clock and figure out how long they’ve been waiting. Great, but why should the doctor have to find a clock and calculate it themselves. A nice visual indication would be nice for them to know how far behind they are at a glance.

Could this be done without computers and EMR? I think not!!