Create the Best Medical Waiting Rooms Experience: Top Health and Medical Office Waiting Room Ideas

There are many ways to improve your clinical practice, and one of those ways is just waiting for your attention. That’s right, medical office waiting rooms can make the difference between a positive or negative patient experience. And if you think it doesn’t matter to your patients what your waiting room is like, think again. After all, your waiting room is your clinic’s first impression, and we all know that first impressions matter.

According to a 2019 patient survey, an unpleasant waiting room was the most cited reason patients would not return to a specific provider, even more so than long wait times. () While a long wait time took a backseat to an unpleasant waiting room experience, it’s clear that patients do pay attention to how long they wait, which is a great place to start when addressing your clinic’s medical waiting rooms experience.

Practitioners with a five-star rating have an average wait time under 14 minutes. (

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Managing wait times

The amount of time a patient has to wait to see the doctor does matter. According to the 9thAnnual Vitals Wait Time Report released in 2018, 84% of the survey respondents said that wait time is either somewhat or very important. The survey also revealed that 30% of patients have left a doctor's appointment because of a long wait and one in five people have switched doctors because of long wait times. They also found that doctors with a five-star rating had an average wait time of under 14 minutes, while the one-star doctors had an average wait time of more than 34 minutes. () 

A 2019 study about the wait time experience found that patients expect to wait and can even have a tendency to be forgiving about a long wait if they perceive their care to have a high value. In other words, it’s worth the wait. The same paper offers up these ways to help manage the wait experience:

• Inform patients ahead of time of wait delays to help manage expectations and increase tolerance.

• Offer a sincere apology for long delays. 

• Provide patients with the opportunity to use their wait time constructively by having them come prepared (for example, with a book) or having access to educational materials in the waiting room. (2) 

Addressing the patient’s wait time is just one of many waiting room best practices. Here are other ways to improve your clinic’s waiting room experience.