Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/981659
40 PATIENT EXPERIENCE 10 cities with longest, shortest patient wait times By Megan Knowles T he average wait time to see a physician in the U.S. currently stands at 18 minutes, 13 seconds across specialties, which is down 22 seconds from last year. However, patient wait times vary significantly across cities, according to Vitals' annual Physician Wait Time Report. To compile the Physician Wait Time Report, Vitals gath- ered data from patient-reported wait times from 2008 through the end of 2017. Vitals also surveyed more than 675 online respondents in a March 2018 poll. For the second year in a row, Milwaukee had the shortest average patient wait time at 14 minutes, 35 seconds, while El Paso, Texas, has had the longest average wait time for seven years running, reaching 26 minutes, 50 seconds this year. Here are the five cities with the longest average patient wait times. 1. El Paso, Texas (26 min, 50 sec) 2. Memphis, Tenn. (23 min, 44 sec) 3. Miami (22 min, 29 sec) 4. Las Vegas (21 min, 19 sec) 5. Fort Worth, Texas (21 min, 1 sec) Here are the five cities with the shortest average patient wait times. 1. Milwaukee (14 min, 35 sec) 2. Seattle (14 min, 38 sec) 3. St. Paul, Minn. (14 min, 43 sec) 4. Minneapolis (14 min, 55 sec) 5. Portland, Maine (15 min, 6 sec) n 10 things parents of pediatric patients want during a hospital stay By Mackenzie Bean H ospitals cannot improve the patient experience without listening to — and acting on — patient feedback, Peter Pronovost, MD, PhD, senior vice president for clinical safety at Minnetonka, Minn.-based UnitedHealthcare, said in a 2015 blog post for Baltimore-based Johns Hopkins Medicine's Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality. Dr. Pronovost formerly served as director of the Armstrong Institute and senior vice president for patient safety and quality at Johns Hopkins Medicine. In this role, he worked with Jane Hill, Johns Hopkins' patient relations di- rector, to compile "patient wish lists" based on the most common pieces of feedback the hos- pital received from patient letters or surveys. While the two leaders developed an overar- ching patient wish list for the health system, Johns Hopkins' Patient and Family Advisory Councils also created individual patient wish lists to speak to their own patient populations' specific needs, a spokesperson for Johns Hop- kins Medicine told Becker's Hospital Review. Here are 10 things the parents of pediatric patients said they wanted from clinicians during a hospital stay, as compiled by the Pediatric Family Advisory Council for Johns Hopkins Children's Center. 1. Meet our basic needs. Parents want to be oriented to the hospital once their child is admitted. Clinicians should inform parents where they can get food, how to pay for parking, when visiting hours are, etc. 2. Let us see you wash your hands. Parents worry about germs in the hospital. Clinicians can demonstrate they are dedicated to keeping a pediatric patient safe by washing their hands in front of the patient and his or her parents. 3. Introduce yourself before you start speak- ing. Parents want to know who clinicians are and how they will be involved with their child's care as soon as they enter the room. 4. Communicate, communicate, communi- cate. Parents are always waiting for updates from clinicians and want to know as much information as possible. Parents plan their day around the times they get to speak to providers, so clinicians should let them know if they're delayed. 5. Know my child's entire medical history. Parents want clinicians to be as well-versed about their child's medical history as possible. 6. Be present when you are with us. Parents want clinicians to take the time to answer their questions and outline a care plan for the day. ey want to be involved in the planning and discussion of their child's healthcare goals. 7. Tell us when there is downtime. A patient's loved ones don't want to leave and miss something important, so providers should inform them of opportune times to get food, take a nap, etc. 8. Answer the call bell. Parents want clinicians to promptly answer their calls and come to their child's room as soon as possible. 9. Clean our room. Hospital rooms become a patient and family's home away from home, so clinicians should help them keep the space clean. 10. Recognize sleep is precious. Clini- cians should let pediatric patients and their families sleep whenever possible and group medical tasks together, especially overnight, to avoid regular disturbances. n