Patient Flow

Improving Patient Flow in a Post Covid-19 Environment


Improving patient flow makes for a better overall experience for patients and healthcare workers. Streamlining the way patients make their way from check-in to consultation to check-out has always been a critical part of practice design, but it’s become especially important in the context of COVID-19.

Here are some of the ways you can improve your practice’s patient flow.

Make Access Easy

Ease of access is a critical element of both patient and worker satisfaction. When a practice is in a hard-to-find location, has limited parking or transit, or is hard to navigate, you’ll be dealing with frustrated patients, late arrivals, or even no-shows.

If moving to a new building, ensure that your practice is close to major thoroughfares or transit hubs, offers ample parking, and has convenient drop-off points by the front entrance. For existing practices in a less-than-ideal location, use clear, informative signage at street level and inside the building, and always provide directions for first-time patients.

Direct People

Once inside, patients need to be able to easily navigate a practice or clinic. A busy practice with multiple practitioners or services is prone to cross-traffic, confusion, and delays. Analyze typical patient journeys and devise routes that improve flow and organization. Have people check-in and out at different areas or have separate check-in spaces or waiting areas for different services.

In the post COVID-19 context, one option is to have patients call ahead upon arrival so that they can be immediately checked in and directed to a consulting room, reducing cross-traffic and potential viral exposure. Practices can also use scheduling software to assign physicians to patients in specific rooms ahead of time, minimizing movement for physicians and reducing clinical session time.

Smart Schedule

There’s a strategy to overbooking, but it can work against healthcare providers. Book only the number of appointments your physicians can reasonably handle and ensure that some rooms are left available to allow for walk-ins or for other doctors to use if an appointment is running over its scheduled duration. Smart scheduling, especially when informed by the practice’s own data, can help reduce bottlenecks and wait times. Additionally, in the post COVID-19 context it means patients won’t have to spend extra time in the waiting room or worse, in their cars.

Minimize Staff Movement

It’s not just your admin staff who need time at their computers: doctors spend more than half their day on EHR tasks. Minimize unnecessary trips by creating a centrally located, private hub outfitted with computers, copiers, printers, and telephony that doctors can easily access between appointments. This will reduce bottlenecks, along with the perception that a clinic is too busy.

Another area ideal for reducing staff movement is around materials and supplies. Cut traffic and reduce bottlenecks by understanding how often certain supplies need to be replenished, arranging for deliveries to occur outside of peak hours, and keeping stores of items close at hand. A well-designed clinical space with room for storage and wide thoroughfares can make this easy to achieve.

Choose a Larger Space

If patient flow and bottlenecks are an ongoing struggle for your practice, it may be time to invest in a large space with more rooms, improved storage, and a more traffic-friendly floor plan. This is especially the case now that patients and staff alike are increasingly mindful about reducing their risk of viral exposure. When choosing a new space for your clinic, keep in mind all of the above recommendations regarding location, internal access and wayfinding, and design flexibility.

At Gittleson Zuppas Medical Realty, we specialize in medical real estate, and can help you identify a space that’s right for your needs – and your patients’ as well. We understand the factors that affect access and patient flow, as well as the patient experience in general, and go above and beyond to find the perfect fit. If you’re looking for a traffic-optimized healthcare space, we’re here to help.