Why, sometimes, it’s best not to tell patients the wait time
Patients start to get angry as the advised wait time approaches, research reveals
Hospitals are being advised to avoid giving out wait times if there’s no guarantee they’ll be met as it only severs to ratchet up patients’ anger dials.
Israeli research involving more than 400 patients (median age 36) presenting to an ED, found that patients were calmer when they were advised of wait times, but their patience started to turn to anger as the deadline approached.
