Patient engagement is a driving force in healthcare in North America. Questions are the Answer is an Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) initiative to improve healthcare by empowering patients to know what to do and the questions to ask before, during and after a medical appointment ~ an excellent resource for patients. On September 22, 2011 the Health Council of Canada (HCoC) released How Engaged are Canadians in their Primary Care?. John G. Abbott, CEO of the HCoC, notes that “Patients are more likely to feel engaged if they believe that their time has not been wasted; if they have access to their primary care providers and understand the information being provided to them.” The following five questions are not the answer and demonstrate how patients can feel that their time and healthcare provider resources are being wasted.

1. How do I get to my appointment? Patients typically ask 3-4 hospital staff for directions before they reach their destination. Uncertainty and fear of being late leads to more anxiety for the patient in an often already anxious situation and is an unnecessary interruption for staff. Not a good situation for patient or provider, but it’s especially difficult when a patient is trying to navigate a hospital after hours. Wouldn’t it be great if this “lost” scenario was made avoidable with wayfinding kiosks and phone apps?

2. What do  you mean I’m here on the wrong day? Dates and times can be misspoken or misheard. Healthcare providers don’t have the staff to make reminder calls to patients, but missed appointments still cost the patient and the provider time and money. Wouldn’t it be great if healthcare providers and patients could be like car dealerships and customers that respect each other’s time with a robo-call or an email reminder of a service appointment?

3. Why do I have to stand in-line to register and give you my name, address and telephone numbers each time? This situation is especially frustrating for anyone who’s frequently at a clinic or hospital for dialysis, chemo, infertility treatments, Coumadin monitoring, etc. Whether you’re a frequent healthcare-user or not, you have to question what value there is in being asked by a staff person for your name, address and telephone numbers each time you visit a healthcare provider. Wouldn’t it be great if healthcare providers could be like most service industries that have reduced costs by having customers swipe a card, touch a screen and be on their way in seconds rather than minutes?

4. Why do I have to write my answers on this form? In the age of electronic health records and iPads, patients are still sitting in a waiting room, balancing a clipboard, trying to read a blurry photocopied form, and hand-writing illegible answers in the too small spaces that staff then scan into a computer. Wouldn’t it be great if patient and staff time could be optimized by completing forms during an online pre-registration or kiosk-based registration process?

5. What do you mean I can’t have this test/procedure? When information isn’t communicated clearly (or at all in some cases), a patient may arrive for a test or procedure unprepared, resulting in a cancellation and a loss of time and money for everyone involved. Wouldn’t it be great if we could ensure that every patient was given clear instructions during an online registration process where the patient confirms that the instructions are received?