title: Are waiting rooms Passé? A pilot study of patient self-rooming.
abstract: Timeliness of care after patients arrive at the primary care office has received little examination. At 2 community family medicine clinics, an intervention was piloted replacing traditional waits in the waiting room with patients directing themselves to their examination rooms. We examined patient acceptability, experience of care, and staff time and cost savings before and after the intervention. Most patients (95%) preferred rooming themselves. Patient satisfaction remained high. Staff time and cost savings were achieved at both sites. Our findings suggest that self-rooming is desirable to patients. Others interested in redirecting staff time toward value-added patient care tasks should consider trialing this intervention.
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, Wisconsin (Drs Kamnetz and Pandhi); UW Health Primary Care Academics Transforming Healthcare Collaborative, Madison, Wisconsin (Drs Kamnetz and Pandhi); Hennepin County Medical Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota (Dr Marquez); and University of Wisconsin Medical Foundation, Middleton, Wisconsin (Ms Aeschlimann).
authors.forename: Sandra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kamnetz
authors.forename: Byron
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Marquez
authors.forename: Ramonda
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Aeschlimann
authors.forename: Nancy
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Pandhi
mesh_terms: D001071:Appointments and Schedules; D017046:Cost Savings; D006801:Humans; D009819:Office Visits; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D010824:Physicians' Offices; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000191:economics; D014850:Waiting Lists; D014922:Wisconsin