Published on June 03, 2008
Geonetric News Release
Geonetric's Online Tool Informs Patients of Expected Wait Time
Interactive tool allows hospitals to quickly and easily tell their patients how long of a wait to expect at their facilities
Cedar Rapids, IA (June 3, 2008) - Ken Croken, vice president of marketing at Genesis Health System, recently overheard the plight of one parent as she set out to find the shortest wait time at the health system's three urgent care centers.
Seeing an opportunity to help other patients, Croken called Geonetric, the health system's Web development partner, and began discussions to create a Web-based wait time indicator. The module is now available on Genesis' website and has been well-received by staff, patients and the community.
Broad appeal, unique requirements
Geonetric knew Croken's idea would have a broad appeal. They began working with the 675-bed health system to develop the requirements for the new module that would meet the needs of Genesis and eventually be available to the rest of Geonetric's clients.
Geonetric understood the module would need to be updated by the care staff and not the Web team. During development, they focused equally on functionality and usability, ensuring a robust tool that is easy to use and install.
The module allows staff at the care facilities to instantly update wait times from their own computers, resulting in real-time updates to their website. Every 30 minutes, a small pop-up window appears on the desktop that reminds staff to update the wait time.
"It was exciting to see Geonetric bring the idea to life," says Croken. "We've had incredible response to the wait time indicator both internally and from our community as a whole. We had hundreds of visits to the page, even before we started our promotion. The convenient care facilitates are reporting a significant decrease in calls asking for wait times, and it also helps alleviate already burdened facilities by spreading some of the walk-ins to less busy locations. The wait time indicator is just another way to demonstrate that Genesis is committed to being as responsive as possible to patients' needs."
Genesis received 1,268 pageviews in the first month since the indicator went live. Now that they are promoting the indicator, they expect it to grow in popularity. They aren't finished with the indicator either, as additional features and visual enhancements are currently in the works.
The wait times can be viewed by clicking on a panel on Genesis' homepage, or by visiting www.genesishealth.com/patients-visitors/WaitTime.aspx.
Sharing the success
One appealing aspect of working with Geonetric is that once a module is developed it is shared with other Geonetric clients. Genesis' wait time indicator was modified slightly and installed at Methodist Medical Center of Illinois, a 235-bed system in Peoria, Ill.
"Geonetric worked seamlessly with the IT department at Methodist to develop a wait time indicator that would display our Emergency Department wait time in real time," says Katrina Griffin, Web coordinator at Methodist. "It has been a huge success drawing media coverage from all over central Illinois and positive feedback from patients and clinical staff. This innovative tool is meeting a need in the community and increasing organizational transparency."
Methodist's wait time indicator is featured prominently on their homepage at www.mymethodist.net under the heading "What's the Wait?"
