Best And Worst Times For A Hospital Visit

Almost everyone has experienced a hospital visit with either a long wait time or a short one and the amount of time you wait for treatment has many variables but according to a study from the American Heart Association, it might just be the time of day. While going to the hospital isn't something that is generally planned, the time of day and year may affect patient wait time. In the study, the American Heart Association took a look at heart attack patients that arrived at a hospital and recorded their wait time. Keep in mind that the American Heart Associate's guidelines recommend the administering of an angioplasty within 90 minutes or less.

The study found that patients who arrive at a hospital on weekends, weeknights or holidays have a 13 percent greater risk of a fatal outcome than those who arrive during regular business hours. While no one can predict when a heart attack will happen, patients who arrived during those times had an average wait of 72 minutes compared to 56 minutes during regular business hours. However, both time frames are within the guidelines of the angioplasty procedure. And of course, patients should not wait to go to the hospital for any situation even if the emergency is during the night or on the weekend.

But what causes the increased wait time? Some suggest that more people are prone to injury from things like burning their hand while cooking dinner during the weeknight, experiencing food poising during holiday meals and perhaps sports related injuries on the weekends. These types of incidents can 'clog' up the waiting room and increase wait time. But there are other factors that can lead to unnecessary wait time like paperwork, filing and other administrative duties.

As medical science advances and society moves more and more towards technology driven lifestyles, hospitals have the potential to reduce wait times by fixing outdated work procedures. Output management can help reduce paperwork and processing forms which can account for a large portion of time when a patient is in the waiting room. With the reduction of manual paper forms and mundane tasks, hospitals can treat patients sooner, no matter if it's a weeknight, weekend or holiday. 

Patient Expectations in Hospitals Matter

The healthcare industry is becoming more consumer-driven and the growing population of health-conscious consumers is shifting the way hospitals work. Patient expectations are changing and this movement is pressuring healthcare organizations to re-evaluate their operations to better suit the needs of today's modern patient. Ever since the 2008 introduction of the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey, consumers have the ability to review and report patient satisfaction data that will provide valid comparisons of hospitals around the country.

Since HCAHPS' emergence, a 32-item survey is filled out and those scores and answers are available for display, giving consumers a first-hand look at how well patients are treated. From things like communication to how fast their experience was, the survey gives a detailed perspective of what others could expect. A patient's perception of care depends on their own observations of how well hospital employees work with each other, their performance and their commitment to quality care. Those hospitals who had highly engaged, team-oriented employees received high scores so it's not a surprise that the more motivated and enthusiastic hospitals rank better than others.

However, there are many reasons why other hospitals scored lower and one of them may be the lack of patient attention. This may not be due to negligence, but it could be due to outdated hospital workflows and processes that take precious time away for things like paperwork. To increase patient attention which will in turn, increase HCAHPS scores, hospitals need to invest in workflow automation software, print management systems and paperless, electronic documents.

Essentially, those above systems and updates will bring hospitals up to speed to meet the demands of the 21^st century. Too much time is spent on administrative activities like paperwork and document filing that those hospital employees could devote the time to the patient. Not only will it increase time spent with a patient, but it will also reduce costs because a significant amount of paper will no longer be needed. The data found in HCAHPS surveys can negatively impact patient expectations if the scores are bad and in order for hospitals to remain competitive, changes need to be made.

Making Positive Gains In The Healthcare Industry

The numbers are in and 2014 fared well for the healthcare industry as it added over 300,000 jobs according to an article in Forbes. It should also be noted that the US unemployment rate is down to the lowest rate it has been in 6.5 years, which can call for 2015 to be promising! The report shows more than a 50 percent increase in job growth in the healthcare industry when comparing the numbers from 2013. As employment rises in the healthcare industry, health-conscious consumers could expect better hospital performance as more people are now being staffed to accommodate more health-related needs.

A reason for the employment increase suggests that the Affordable Care Act had a significant part in its positive gains because more people were able to become insured, meaning more people were seeking medical treatment since they had coverage. As more staff started to serve newly insured patients, it would be without a doubt that hospital expenses may be on the rise in terms of paper documents, administrative duties and other workflow operations. With this being said, hospitals could continue to show work efficiencies by implementing new ways to handle documents.

By switching hospital forms to electronic forms, they could save an enormous amount of money when it comes to ordering paper. This in turn, also reduces the environmental impact that hospitals produce because it saves a large amount of resources that are needed to form paper. Keeping up with the increased demand of patient visits due more being insured, digital hospital forms can improve workflows and make for better operations. In fact, the number of uninsured Americans is at a historically low rate!

But don’t think electronic hospital forms are only for those traditional hospitals – a rise in urgent care clinics around the country could also benefit from electronic forms to lower their operating costs. These smaller clinics could benefit from technology that simplifies forms and makes them more readily available with on-demand access. While 2014 was a positive year for job growth in the healthcare industry, it only makes sense to find solutions that can complement the growth.