LA Health Services (DHS) is pleased to announce the Enterprise Patient Queuing System – a newly modernized, digital kiosk now available at your local Outpatient Phlebotomy Labs. The system is currently being implemented at our outpatient pharmacy and there are plans to implement at an Urgent Care near you! With the need to alleviate crowded waiting rooms and allow our patients to safely socially distance, the new patient queue system has made the check-in process easier than ever. Patients simply walk up the kiosk, select the preferred language and specific service they are visiting for, and an automated ticket will be generated immediately following their check-in. In future installments, patients will also have the ability to enter their phone numbers or scan QR codes to receive text messages that show their place in line.
Once a staff member is ready to assist the patient, the patient will see their ticket number on a special Queuing System TV screen in the waiting area. Simultaneously, they will also hear their ticket number being called aloud in multiple languages on a dedicated Queuing System speaker and, depending on their location, see their ticket number on an LED screen in the vicinity of where they are supposed to go next. Patients can also provide feedback once their service is complete through a brief survey questionnaire following their visit.
“The number of patient satisfaction surveys at all sites have dramatically increased,” said Dr. Melanie Osby, Laboratory Director at Martin Luther King, Jr. Outpatient Center, El Monte, Roybal, and Hudson Comprehensive Health Care Center. “The labs can now receive an unbiased assessment of services and feel confident about the more than 95 percent patient satisfaction rating at all sites. In addition, the implementation of mobile ticket allows infection control compliance by getting first-hand responses from patients.”
Supervisors can also monitor live use of the system through a dashboard. The dashboard shows patients served, patients waiting, turnaround times, and which staff are currently logged into the system. Supervisors can also run historical reports to help understand patient queuing trends and other volume-related metrics to help reduce patient waiting times and increase operational efficiency where it makes the most sense.
“The QMatic Patient Queuing System is a significant improvement to our Outpatient Phlebotomy Services operations,” said Ruth Salandanan, Lead Clinical Laboratory Scientist. “The system keeps the management informed of the quality of services we provide to our customers, and it allows us to remotely monitor the status of each Phlebotomy Lab to adjust staffing levels to avoid long wait times for blood draw. It also has excellent business tools that assist the management in generating reports to monitor staff performance and improve customer service.”
Many feature-rich upgrades are also on the roadmap, including SMS/Texting, QR Code and Mobile Ticket integration, as well as demographic information for pharmacy orders. Be on the lookout for these new kiosks springing up across your locations! You won’t find anyone in line at this check-in “queue,” though you will find some happy patients!
