Stroomz Woensel

Stroomz Woensel is a health center housing multiple healthcare providers under one roof. Patients can visit the general practitioner, pharmacy, physiotherapist, dietitian, pedicurist, and podiatrist. The building housing the health center has two floors and several waiting areas for patients.

Stroomz Woensel participated in a pilot project initiated by the healthcare group. For this pilot, two health centers were selected to use the check-in kiosk. Bregje de Boer, coordinating center assistant, explains: "We had been looking for a way to reduce traffic at the reception desk and relieve pressure on the assistants. This pilot came at just the right time for us. We took full advantage of it."

Finding the right spot

Finding the right spot for the check-in kiosk was a challenge: “The entrance to our health center is quite narrow, but it turned out to be the best place for the check-in kiosk. You want to avoid patients walking past it and going to the reception desk instead.” The health center now has a volunteer at the check-in kiosk for a few hours each week. Bregje notes that they can tell the difference: “When there’s no volunteer at the kiosk, it’s a bit busier at the reception desk. But we think it's also a matter of getting used to it. Once a patient has used the kiosk once, they use it again the next time.”

More oversight

Besides creating more calm at the reception desk, there was another reason the health center wanted to participate in the kiosk pilot. Bregje explains that the assistants and healthcare providers wanted more oversight. Now, they can see exactly who has arrived and who hasn't in the Medicom agenda.

Targeted signage

After check-in, patients receive a referral indicating which waiting room they should go to: targeted signage. Initially, the check-in system required patients to select which healthcare provider they had an appointment with. Often, a patient would select the GP, even though the appointment was with the practice nurse or assistant. Because the waiting room referral was linked to the appointment choice, the patient was directed to the wrong waiting room.

In consultation with Stroomz Woensel, Wachtkamerschermen® reconfigured the check-in system. Medicom essentially does the 'thinking' for the patient. Now, the patient selects: General Practice Care. This includes appointments with practice nurses and assistants. After the patient enters their date of birth, Medicom checks which agenda the appointment is in. The new feature is that the waiting room referral is now retrieved from Medicom, ensuring the patient is always directed to the correct waiting room.

“We are very happy with this solution! The only challenge is when a healthcare provider changes rooms. Then we need to take action and update the waiting room in the Medicom agenda. But this solution saves us so much time since we no longer need to search for patients, that the occasional update is hardly an issue,” says Bregje.

Trial & Error

Bregje notes that they used the pilot period to experiment with the check-in kiosk: “It's a bit of trial and error. You shouldn’t panic. Dare to try things out, and you'll eventually find what works best for your situation. What works well for us might not work as well in other practices or health centers. That's why we were so pleased with the pilot.”

All in all, Stroomz Woensel is very happy with the check-in kiosk, which is now a permanent feature. In fact, the entire healthcare group will be implementing the Wachtkamerschermen® check-in system, and kiosks will be installed in all 10 health centers. We asked Bregje if she had any additional comments about the kiosk: “The check-in kiosk has definitely proven itself, and we see many advantages. I think we can get even more out of the system. It would be great if a notification could appear asking ‘Is your email address still correct?’ allowing patients to update their information immediately. We also think it would be beneficial to display wait times on the kiosk. That way, a patient would know upon arrival if they need to wait a bit longer. In the spirit of ‘a well-informed patient is a more understanding patient,’ this would be a valuable addition.” Wachtkamerschermen® indicates that they will consider this in the further development of the system and will discuss it with PharmaPartners.

Strong combination with Wachtkamerschermen®

Additionally, Wachtkamerschermen® will be installed in the 10 health centers under the Stroomz group. The narrowcasting broadcast can display messages like ‘Have you checked in at the kiosk?’ The Wachtkamerscherm can also show wait times, ensuring the patient is optimally informed. A well-informed patient is less likely to approach the reception desk to ask if it will take much longer. Therefore, the combination of a check-in kiosk with a Wachtkamerscherm is a golden combination: reducing the pressure at the reception desk and improving the patient experience!