Cancer claims more years of life than any other disease. It lead to 38 million oncology visits per year in 2005, and that number is projected to rise to more than 57 million visits by 2020 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK215252/). Those hospital visits take an enormous amount of time, and a majority of that time is spent waiting. According to a 2017 study from the Journal of Health Care Organization, the average hospital visit is 168.3 minutes, and 150.5 of those minutes are spent waiting for only 17.8 minutes of care. There is a huge opportunity to innovate in hospitals to not only reduce unnecessary wait times but also to enhance and embrace the necessary ones.

At Allegheny General Hospital (AGH), two-thirds of patients enter the hospital with one companion. The patient and companion navigate to their particular hospital wing, check in at the waiting room and then wait for the appointment to start. This wait can be brief or protracted depending on a huge variety of factors and can inject a lot of unnecessary stress into the experience. They are stuck in the waiting room until they are called, and have little more than “a few minutes” to guide their expectations.

Once the patient goes in for their appointment, the companion is often left to wait until the appointment is over. A lot can happen between drop off and pickup, and the companion also feels trapped in the waiting room because they do not know exactly when their loved one will be finished. The worst thing to happen would be to miss the time when their loved one comes out.

So, stuck in the waiting room, they wait. They read, fidget, pace, and sit. But looming over their heads is the worry that if they leave even for a minute, that they will miss something important. What if the nurse comes out with an update? What if my loved one finishes early? What if they need me? With all these questions unanswered, they stay and wait.