Children's hospital hopes to ease wait-time worries with app

Montreal Childrens Hospital is trying out a new app that could help ease the frustration of wait-times for ER clients.

The app, which is available onlineand on tablets in the ER waiting areas, will provide parents with constantly updated, real-time wait-times for their assigned priority category.

We want parents to make enlightened decisions," saidDr. HarleyEisman, director of the hospitals emergency department, in an interview on CBC RadiosDaybreakthis morning.

"If you come to the waiting room at 4 a.m. and you realize the waiting time for your category is five hours and you wont have access to a health care provider until 9 a.m., perhaps youll make an enlightened choice and leave, or at least youll get a decent estimate of your situation.

He hopes it will also reduce wait times overall.

Parents will also be ableto register for text messageupdates of their childs place in the queue.

Dr. Eisman said the app will alsoprovide a better experience for emergency department users by freeing them the feeling they have to sit and wait or run the risk of missing their turn.

Parents can go out and grab a coffee, have some mobility, put money in the meter, he said.

Developed in-house by MUHC software engineers, the app will also prove essential to the waiting room strategy for the new superhospital, which will include the Montreal Children's Hospital.

Its a virtual waiting room, if you will, said Dr. Eisman.