Perceived Wait Time Research Articles

Between a rock and a hard place: how does the tourist crowding perception affect the decision of absolute displacement?

ABSTRACT This study investigates the mechanism of tourist crowding perception on their decisions of absolute displacement based on the conservation of resource theory and social influence theory. We collected 455 valid questionnaires from a tourism destination (West Street in Quanzhou city) in China. Results show that both physical crowding and human crowding motivate tourists to select absolute displacement. Perceived wait time partly mediates the effect of physical crowding on absolute displacement, while it fully mediates the effect of human crowding on absolute displacement. Travel group size negatively moderates the effect of tourist crowding perception on absolute displacement. Theoretically, this paper enriches the literature and theories on understanding the mechanism of crowding perception on tourist behavior and expands insights into how tourists respond to crowded situations. Practically, this paper provides implications for destination marketing organizations to use various tourism services to solve over-tourism issues and achieve sustainable tourism development.

Nature and patient waiting: Mediating effects of anxiety and perceived wait time on the association between nature and service perception

Visitors to emergency department waiting areas often experience high anxiety, which results in discomfort during their waits. Our findings offer empirical evidence for the positive impact of including natural elements in these waiting areas. We created four high-fidelity virtual environments that incorporated natural elements in three ways, i.e., the presence of plants, the use of nature images and natural materials, and a combination of those two, in addition to a controlled environment without natural elements. We tested how subjects responded to each environmental setting. Our findings demonstrated that the inclusion of natural elements significantly lowered patients' anxiety in hospital environments, confirming previous research, and the presence of natural elements improved perceived wait time, as well as service quality through anxiety and perceived wait time. The combination yielded higher scores in anxiety, perceived wait time, and service quality than the other conditions. Serial mediation analysis results revealed that underlying anxiety and patients’ perceived wait time mediated the effect of natural elements on perceived service quality. Among the five dimensions of service quality, the mediating effects of anxiety and perceived wait time appeared stronger in reliability and responsiveness.

Psychological Effects of and Design Preferences for Real-Time Information Displays

This article investigates the effects of real-time information, located at stops and stations, on the public transportation customer. Perceived wait time, feelings of security, and ease of use were considered to be sensitive indicators. The case of newly implemented traveler information on tramline 15 in the Hague, the Netherlands, was used for a before-and-after evaluation study containing questionnaires given to travelers. One month before and 3 months and 16 months after implementation, the same sample of travelers completed in a questionnaire. Further, four orientations of the displays at tram stops, assembled for testing purposes, were evaluated. The main results were that the perceived wait time decreased by 20 percent, while no effects on perceived security and ease of use were found. Displays installed perpendicular to the tracks and separate from the shelter were ranked highest.

An agent-based model for modal shift in public transport

Modal shift in public transport as a consequence of a disruption on a line has in some cases unforeseen consequences such as an increase in congestion in the rest of the network. How information is provided to users and their behavior plays a central role in such configurations. We introduce here a simple and stylised agent-based model aimed at understanding the impact of behavioural parameters on modal shift. The model is applied on a case study based on a stated preference survey for a segment of Paris suburban train network. We systematically explore the parameter space and show non-trivial patterns of congestion for some values of discrete choice parameters linked to perceived wait time and congestion. We also apply a genetic optimisation algorithm to the model to search for optimal compromises between congestion in different modes.

The influence of audio effects and attention on the perceived duration of interaction

Users often need to wait for computer systems to perform some task, and these delays can have adverse effects on user experience. One way to ease the problem is to use stimuli that reduce perceived wait time. We conducted a study investigating how audio effects influence users perceived wait time across three interaction contexts — passive waiting with no visual feedback, passive waiting with visual feedback (watching a progress bar), and playing a simple game. We tested three different types of audio effects: a series of beeps that changed in tempo (increasing, decreasing, or constant tempo), a series of beeps that changed in pitch (rising, falling, or constant), and variants of a polyphonic Shepard tone (an auditory illusion that seems to rise or fall in pitch continuously); a silent condition was included as a baseline. In the first stage of the experiment, participants experienced a 10.1 second wait period, indicated with a progress bar, accompanied by an audio effect. They then estimated the duration of the wait, making a retrospective assessment of the experience. In the second stage, participants experienced a series of conditions that compared two 10.1 second wait periods accompanied by different effects and selected which one (if either) felt longer, making a prospective assessment (i.e., they were aware that the two durations would be compared before experiencing them). Results from the first stage showed that perceived duration differed across different audio conditions. Results from the second stage supported prior findings that increasing-tempo beeps can shorten perceived duration and generalised the findings to interactions that include visual feedback (e.g., watching a progress bar) and those involving direct interaction (e.g., playing a simple game).

P008 A Novel Smartphone Application to Reduce Infusion Suite Wait Times.

Patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) are often treated with biologic medications that require visits to an infusion suite. Due to the high cost of biologics, they are not mixed and released from the pharmacy until patient arrival. This typically leads to long wait times after patient check in. An investigator-developed novel smartphone application (app) titled Almost There was created to reduce wait times through the use of geofences to notify the infusion suite when patients are nearing their destination (the hospital). Our aim was to perform a pilot study to assess the feasibility of Almost There for patients with IBD coming for infusions at a rural academic medical center. Adult patients with Crohn's disease (CD) or ulcerative colitis (UC) currently receiving intravenous biologic therapy were recruited for this pilot study. Patients received instructions on how to download the app onto their smartphone. Patients activated the application prior to leaving their homes and answered standard screening questions to assess for active infections. Using geofences, the app automatically notified the infusion suite when the patient was within 10 miles of the hospital. The infusion suite alerted the pharmacy who immediately proceeded with medication preparation. Patients completed surveys upon arrival to the infusion suite collecting basic demographics and disease information, perceived wait times for that visit and previous visits prior to using the app. The infusion suite staff recorded actual wait times from check in to medication administration. The app was trialed successfully for 12 total visits among 9 patients (5 CD, 4 UC). 78% of app users were 25-44 years old and 22% were 45 years and older. 56% of patients were receiving infliximab and 44% were receiving vedolizumab. 11 patients were recruited and 9 patients out of 11 were able to successfully use the app. Reasons for app failure included one user who forgot their phone at home, one with loss of cell service, and one app malfunction. The median actual wait time from when patients arrived at the infusion suite to the start of the infusion was 38-40 minutes. In 67% of visits, there was decreased perceived wait time for patients using the app compared to their prior visits. When using the app, perceived wait times were shorter than actual wait times in 75% percent of patients. In this pilot feasibility study, the Almost There app led to decreased perceived wait times for IBD patients coming for biologic infusions. The application was not effective for 18% of patients for a variety of reasons. If this or a similar app was improved to allow for more consistent usability it should be studied compared to a control group to evaluate if it leads to decreased wait times for any medical infusion.

S3314 A Novel Smartphone Application to Reduce Infusion Suite Wait Times

Introduction: Patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) are often treated with biologic medications that require visits to an infusion suite. Due to the high cost of biologics, they are not mixed and released from the pharmacy until patient arrival. This typically leads to long wait times after patient check in. A novel smartphone application (app) titled Almost There was created to reduce wait times through the use of geofences to notify the infusion suite when patients are nearing their destination. We performed a pilot study to assess the feasibility of Almost There for patients with IBD coming for infusions at a rural academic medical center. Methods: Adult patients with Crohn’s disease (CD) or ulcerative colitis (UC) currently receiving intravenous biologic therapy were recruited for the study. Patients received instructions on how to download the app onto their smartphone. Patients activated the application prior to leaving their homes and answered standard screening questions to assess for active infections. Using geofences, the app automatically notified the infusion suite when the patient was within 10 miles of their destination. The infusion suite alerted the pharmacy who immediately proceeded with medication preparation. Patients completed surveys upon arrival to the infusion suite collecting basic demographics and disease information, perceived wait times for that visit and previous visits prior to using the app. The infusion suite staff recorded actual wait times from check in to medication administration. Results: The app was trialed successfully for 12 total visits among 9 patients (5 CD, 4 UC). 78% of app users were 25-44 years old and 22% were 45 years and older. 56% of patients were receiving infliximab and 44% were receiving vedolizumab. 11 patients were recruited and 9 patients out of 11 were able to successfully use the app. Reasons for app failure included one user who forgot their phone at home, one with loss of cell service, and one app malfunction. In 67% of visits, there was decreased perceived wait times with the app (Figure 1). When using the app, perceived wait times were shorter than actual wait times in 75% percent of patients. Conclusion: The Almost There app led to decreased perceived wait times for IBD patients coming for biologic infusions. The application was not effective for 18% of patients for a variety of reasons. If this or a similar app was improved to allow for more consistent usability, it could allow for decreased wait times for any medical infusion.Figure 1.: Comparing Perceived Wait Times to Actual Infusion Suite Wait Times X axis: Patient Visits Y axis: Time (minutes) Legend: Blue - Perceived wait time without app Orange - Perceived wait time with app Gray - Actual wait time.

The effect of flight delay on customer loyalty intention: The moderating role of emotion regulation

Airline service delays have received increasing media attention and can result in negative public comments. This study examines the relationship among perceived wait time, negative emotions (anger and worry) and loyalty intention, and the moderating effects of two types of emotion regulation strategies (reappraisal and suppression). A total of 958 valid responses were collected from passengers who had experienced a flight delay. The results reveal that perceived wait time is positively related to feelings of anger and worry, which in turn, negatively influence future loyalty intentions. Importantly, results indicate emotional reappraisal alleviates the effect of perceived wait time on elicitation of anger and worry. Emotional suppression, on the other hand, reduces the influence of negative emotions on loyalty intentions. This study is one of the first to examine how emotion regulation strategies can moderate the negative effect of flight delay on loyalty intention. It contributes to the knowledge by providing a validated empirical model of how customers react to a service delay experience. Implications and recommendations for future research are provided.

Putting time in perspective: How and why construal level buffers the relationship between wait time and aggressive tendencies

SummaryWe spend a substantial part of our daily life waiting, and unfortunately, wait time can fuel aggressive tendencies. Our study examines the relationship between wait time, perceived wait time, and aggressive tendencies from a construal level perspective. In Study 1, we found that the higher the construal level, the stronger the relationship between actual and perceived wait time and the stronger relationship between perceived wait time and aggressive tendencies. In Study 2, we manipulated construal level and found that power explains the moderating impact of construal on the wait—aggressive tendencies relationships. Results demonstrate the role of construal in explaining both perceived wait time and aggressive responses to long wait times, suggesting that mental construal influences both the psychological experience of time and the subsequent reaction to that experience. Overall, these results contribute to research on subjective time perspective by enhancing the knowledge and understanding of the determinants and effects of perceived wait time.

Factors Associated with Patient Satisfaction in an Outpatient Glaucoma Population

ABSTRACTPurpose: To determine what metrics might impact satisfaction survey responses.Methods: A 37-question survey was administered to 249 participants. Responses were correlated to demographics, clinical factors, weather conditions, and examination timing.Results: Sample consists of 55.4% female and 73.9% white, and mean age was 65.1 years. Participants were assigned to: completely satisfied (77.9%) or not completely satisfied (22.1%) groups based on their rating of glaucoma specialist on a scale of 1–10, while 10 considered “completely satisfied” and less than 10 “not completely satisfied.”Complete satisfaction was associated with ability to schedule appointments early, phone calls answered/returned same day, shorter perceived wait time, and better communication skills of ophthalmologist (p < 0.05). Completely satisfied participants reported their ophthalmologist spent enough time with them, listened carefully, and communicated in an understandable way (p < 0.05).Conclusions: The majority of factors found to be associated with patient satisfaction were related to characteristics of the ophthalmologists and their office.

Patient Satisfaction Is Associated With Time With Provider But Not Clinic Wait Time Among Orthopedic Patients

Clinic wait time is considered an important predictor of patient satisfaction. The goal of this study was to determine whether patient satisfaction among orthopedic patients is associated with clinic wait time and time with the provider. The authors prospectively enrolled 182 patients at their outpatient orthopedic clinic. Clinic wait time was defined as the time between patient check-in and being seen by the surgeon. Time spent with the provider was defined as the total time the patient spent in the examination room with the surgeon. The Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems survey was used to measure patient satisfaction. Factors associated with increased patient satisfaction included patient age and increased time with the surgeon (P=.024 and P=.037, respectively), but not clinic wait time (P=.625). Perceived wait time was subject to a high level of error, and most patients did not accurately report whether they had been waiting longer than 15 minutes to see a provider until they had waited at least 60 minutes (P=.007). If the results of the current study are generalizable, time with the surgeon is associated with patient satisfaction in orthopedic clinics, but wait time is not. Further, the study findings showed that patients in this setting did not have an accurate perception of actual wait time, with many patients underestimating the time they waited to see a provider. Thus, a potential strategy for improving patient satisfaction is to spend more time with each patient, even at the expense of increased wait time. [Orthopedics. 2017; 40(1):43-48.].

Parental perceptions of barriers to mental health services for young people.

This study explores a range of barriers that parents encountered in accessing mental health services. The study also explored whether parents experienced similar barriers to accessing services in 2003 and 2013. One hundred and thirty-four parents of young people attending an initial assessment at a Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) or headspace centre completed a questionnaire assessing 10 general barriers to care. These data were compared to those collected from 129 participants at CAMHS in 2003. The ranking of barriers to mental health care for their children was similar for both survey years, with 'wait time being too long' and 'help being too expensive' the two highest ranked barriers. Cost factors were related to not knowing that the services did not charge fees and having to take time off work to attend appointments. Multiple referral steps and uncertain wait times were the main concerns regarding wait times. The overall strength with which barriers were endorsed remained relatively low; however, at least 40% of the sample agreed they had experienced four of the barriers in both years. Despite relatively low endorsement of barriers, there are substantial proportions of parents who experienced some barriers to services, and services should continue working to reduce them to facilitate timely access. There is a particular need for more service-related information to clarify that public sector mental health services do not charge fees. Methods such as rapid initial assessment and actively managing wait lists may go some way to reducing perceived wait time barriers.

Train delay and perceived-wait time: passengers' perspective

Waiting time influences the overall perception of service quality. The passenger-perceived waiting time can determine their waiting experience. The concept of waiting time refers to the comparison between the passengers' inherent tolerance of waiting and the possible improvement scenarios. This study investigates the passengers' tolerance of waiting under various scenarios of train delays in order to improve their perceived waiting time. We propose the adoption of a modern psychometric method utilizing the Rasch model to measure a subjective latent construct known as ‘wait tolerance'. The Rasch measurement provides mathematical procedures for transforming scores from an ordinal to an interval scale to observe which scenarios can reduce certain passengers' perceived waiting time in the case of a delay. Empirical results show that ‘uncontrollable circumstances', ‘friendly staff attitudes', and ‘providing appropriate messages of apology' can improve the passenger-perceived waiting time during train delays. Likewise, distinct differences are found in the passengers' tolerance of waiting in terms of various personal characteristics, such as gender, age, and train riding frequency. The findings propose the implementation of strategies for improvement by rail system operators, as well as for regulators to define a reasonable service level in the case of train delays. The reviews show possible future innovative research orientations as well.

Time while waiting: patients' experiences of scheduled surgery.

Research on patients' experiences of wait time for scheduled surgery has centered predominantly on the relative tolerability of perceived wait time and impacts on quality of life. We explored patients' experiences of time while waiting for three types of surgery with varied wait times--hip or knee replacement, shoulder surgery, and cardiac surgery. Thirty-two patients were recruited by their surgeons. We asked participants about their perceptions of time while waiting in two separate interviews. Using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA), we discovered connections between participant suffering, meaningfulness of time, and agency over the waiting period and the lived duration of time experience. Our findings reveal that chronological duration is not necessarily the most relevant consideration in determining the quality of waiting experience. Those findings helped us create a conceptual framework for lived wait time. We suggest that clinicians and policy makers consider the complexity of wait time experience to enhance preoperative patient care.

Patient Satisfaction With Nursing Care in an Urban and Suburban Emergency Department

Patient satisfaction is an important outcome measurement in the emergency department (ED). When unavoidable, the negative effect of patient wait time may be lessened by communicating expected wait time, affective support, health information, decisional control, and competent providers. This controlled quasi-experimental design used a convenience sample. The patient questionnaire included demographics, expected and perceived wait time, receiving of comfort items, information and engaging activities and their perceived helpfulness for coping with waiting, and the Consumer Emergency Care Satisfaction Scale measure of patient satisfaction with nursing. Systematic offering of comfort items, clinical information, and engaging activities were statistically analyzed for impact on perceived wait times, helpfulness in waiting, and satisfaction with nursing care. Interventions were supported by the data as helpful for coping with waiting and were significantly related to nursing care satisfaction. Interventions were less helpful for suburban patients who were also less satisfied. Nurses can influence patient satisfaction in the ED through communication and caring behaviors.

Where Is My Bus? Impact of mobile real-time information on the perceived and actual wait time of transit riders

In order to attract more choice riders, transit service must not only have a high level of service in terms of frequency and travel time but also must be reliable. Although transit agencies continuously work to improve on-time performance, such efforts often come at a substantial cost. One inexpensive way to combat the perception of unreliability from the user perspective is real-time transit information. The OneBusAway transit traveler information system provides real-time next bus countdown information for riders of King County Metro via website, telephone, text-messaging, and smart phone applications. Although previous studies have looked at traveler response to real-time information, few have addressed real-time information via devices other than public display signs. For this study, researchers observed riders arriving at Seattle-area bus stops to measure their wait time while asking a series of questions, including how long they perceived that they had waited. The study found that for riders without real-time information, perceived wait time is greater than measured wait time. However, riders using real-time information do not perceive their wait time to be longer than their measured wait time. This is substantiated by the typical wait times that riders report. Real-time information users say that their average wait time is 7.5 min versus 9.9 min for those using traditional arrival information, a difference of about 30%. A model to predict the perceived wait time of bus riders was developed, with significant variables that include the measured wait time, an indicator variable for real-time information, an indicator variable for PM peak period, the bus frequency in buses per hour, and a self-reported typical aggravation level. The addition of real-time information decreases the perceived wait time by 0.7 min (about 13%). A critical finding of the study is that mobile real-time information reduces not only the perceived wait time, but also the actual wait time experienced by customers. Real-time information users in the study wait almost 2 min less than those arriving using traditional schedule information. Mobile real-time information has the ability to improve the experience of transit riders by making the information available to them before they reach the stop.

The role of procedural justice in the delivery of services: A study of customers' reactions to waiting

Two field studies examined the role of procedural justice in the delivery of services. Waiting time and waiting procedures, two dimensions of procedural justice, and their effects on customers' reactions, were studied. In Study 1, 135 customers of two fast-food restaurants were surveyed about their service experience and perceptions of justice. The restaurants used two different types of waiting procedures, single-line systems and multiple-line systems. Study 2 consisted of a field experiment in which 102 customers of a bookstore filled out a survey regarding their service experience. The line system was switched systematically between a single-line and a multiple-line system. Although no differences in actual wait time existed, results of both studies show that customers in a single-line system perceived wait time to be shorter. Furthermore, perceived wait time and perceptions of the waiting procedures predicted customers' reactions to the waiting experience. An interaction between the two procedural justice dimensions was observed in Study 2, indicating that customers' reactions to the wait were more positive when perceived wait time was short and the waiting procedures were perceived as adequate. Results are discussed from the perspectives of organizational justice and waiting expectations.