Universities and colleges face a tall task when ensuring that each of their students is satisfied with their academic experience. Higher education requires an incredible amount of organization and collaboration, and bureaucracy can become a problem. When there are thousands of students, or in many cases, tens of thousands of students, it can be incredibly difficult to keep everyone happy with the quality of education and campus life they receive.Considering students are investing a lot of time and money into the schools they attend, it is vital that they receive the experience they deserve. But how? Bottlenecks are everywhere in the higher education experience. The scheduling process is extremely difficult, customer service is often incredibly overburdened, and according to MLive, the ratio of students to academic advisors is 375-to-1. Accessing an academic advisor can be quite difficult, and the student experience suffers because of it.Students struggle to organize their schedules without the proper assistance, and if they don't meet their degree requirements promptly, they won't graduate on time. Academic and class scheduling is so important, yet many students either don't get the access they need or are let down by archaic scheduling systems at the school. With so much to juggle, school administrators must provide their students with the best possible academic scheduling utilities that they possibly can. That is where QLess and other appointment scheduling software comes in.QLess is a tool utilized by higher education institutes around the world. It is a school scheduling system covering three key areas: appointment scheduling, queue management, and business intelligence. It is designed to help schools decrease student on-campus wait times, make resources more accessible, and simplify the scheduling process. It has a broad impact across campus, with the ability to boost student satisfaction rates up to 75%, and it can completely change how universities operate.The online booking experience needs a lot of work at most universities. There are consistent roadblocks that appear throughout that disrupt the process for students. But with academic scheduling software and an appointment booking app like QLess, universities can implement some much-needed changes.
Higher education can be an overwhelming time for students. For most students, it is their first time being away from home or having an independent academic experience. It isn't up to universities to hold students' hands all the way through, but they must provide students with everything they need to get the most out of their education. Higher education institutes’ reputations are dependent on providing a good education and experience to their students, and if they fall short, students don’t have to stay. While universities' primary purposes are to educate, they are also businesses, and students are their customers. If students are unhappy with the experience, they can take their education elsewhere. 2.1 million college students transferred institutions in the 2020-21 academic year, according to Forbes. This was actually a decline from the previous year, so students moving schools is extremely common.Part of ensuring student retention is making life easier for them. Having highly-effective online scheduling software that helps all students efficiently access campus resources and plan their school schedule is a way to do this. It can be incredibly alienating and stressful for students trying to build their calendar who can't access the right resources.The school scheduling process is difficult. Many issues pop up for both staff and students. Classes get overbooked or underbooked. Systems don't let students sign up for compulsory classes. Students send back-and-forth emails with advisors but don't get appointments. This is incredibly frustrating but can be changed with the help of the right school scheduling system.
Higher education is a massive industry that has to accommodate a huge number of students. There are roughly 16 million students enrolled as undergraduates in higher education institutes in America right now. Some schools have fewer students to deal with, with smaller schools having enrollments of 5,000 or below. Then there are colleges like Arizona State or Texas A&M, each with more than 55,000 students. That is the size of a small city. Managing that many conflicting needs are incredibly complicated. There are a lot of different constraints on higher education institutes that make scheduling complicated. For starters, there is a finite amount of staff. This includes both professors, administrators, and advisors. Building the schedule of classes to accommodate the limited resources isn't easy. It is further complicated when adding things like student majors and compulsory courses. All students have mandatory classes and labs, and those classes can quickly become overbooked. There are also issues like class sizes, the need to ensure that students' classes aren't double booked, and so much more. Essentially, it is incredibly difficult to ensure that time slots are filled, students take the right classes, and everything runs according to schedule. That is why online appointment scheduling software and a school scheduling system like QLess are needed. Both staff and students deserve not to be overwhelmed by the burden of their schedules, but there is just so much to juggle. Having an all-in-one appointment booking software designed to make administrators, advisors, and students have an easier time navigating the bureaucracy of higher education can be a game changer.
If you are looking to reduce operating costs, increase student and staff satisfaction, and improve the ability of staff to handle a higher workload of appointments, appointment scheduling may be for you. No longer is your scheduling limited to business hours, or will staff have to deal with endless streams of disgruntled students. Academic scheduling software provides a concrete solution to some of the key points of contention mentioned. QLess is a cloud-based scheduling system that can be accessed by staff and students at any time from anywhere. It is a flexible and customizable scheduling and appointment management system with several key features that can significantly impact several aspects of the academic scheduling process. Let's dive into what exactly those features are and how they can help all members of your higher education community. QLess has customizable scheduling features that can be accessed through the appointment booking app. Students can access the academic scheduling at any time, and there is a visible calendar feature with drag and drop capabilities where students can view and edit their schedules. This can also be customized and edited by staff, with restrictions implemented for students according to schedule. It is an easy way to manually control the scheduling process from all ends. Advisement appointments are still critical, as there is a lot to talk over for staff and students. Booking and managing these appointments has never been easier. Students can use the appointment scheduling tool to fill open slots, select which kind of appointment they need, and add pertinent information, all from their phones. QLess also offers a virtual queue that shows current wait times, which they can join remotely. This means students don’t have to sit and wait in academic offices for appointments for a long time, removing congestion in school buildings and giving students more freedom. This multi-layered tool can dramatically impact several aspects of campus life.
As we’ve mentioned, it isn’t just students struggling with the burden of scheduling. Staff also have to deal with a massive increase in appointments around the start of the year and navigate scheduling difficulties alongside students. They deserve a positive experience and a less stressful work environment, and administrators can assist them by implementing a school scheduling system. There are many different ways that appointment scheduling apps help staff at the university. One of the primary ones is by simplifying the management of their day-to-day. Administrators have complete control over the appointment calendar with QLess and can organize it in a wide range of ways. They can organize the calendar according to appointment types or urgency and assign certain kinds of appointments to certain staff members. It is an administration system that gives staff a more straightforward workflow. There are also features on the app that allow for bi-directional communication. Staff and students can message back and forth about appointments on a messaging app rather than constant emailing. Students can inform staff if they're running late or going to miss appointments, and the schedules can be manually adjusted to ensure that there is less dead time.QLess also sends SMS reminders for upcoming appointments rather than email reminders which often go ignored. This ensures that staff is getting more out of their day, helping the maximum number of students possible and greatly reducing appointment no-shows. The overall improvement in communication and clarity between advisors, other staff, and students will be dramatic.Both students and staff deserve clarity and a system that eases the heavy burden on them. A digital solution like QLess makes a drastic difference in the scheduling process on both ends.
The customers that higher education institutes are geared towards are typically young. Most current higher education students are either Gen Z or millennials. With that comes a reliance on technology and the expectation that their institution will properly utilize it. The modern higher education institute should be focused on implementing technology to improve their operations and build toward the future. School scheduling software is a great step toward digitalization. Gen Z is a generation that has been raised on digital experiences. They are the largest cohort of undergraduate higher education students, and they are a generation in part defined by their use of technology. 98% of Gen Z owns a smartphone, and 91% have had one since before they were sixteen. Higher education institutes are under pressure from students to implement technology more in their day-to-day experience. Students' preference toward technology should be accommodated, yet many institutes use the same scheduling systems that they relied on ten or twenty years prior. Implementing a new system is a great way to show students you are building a campus geared toward the future. QLess is a scalable system you can implement into your institution's operations and utilize for years to come. It is cloud-based and mobile compatible. Students and staff can access it in several ways. The simplest is through the appointment scheduling app, which can be used on any smartphone. It can also be accessed through a desktop website or even on-site kiosks. With so many current undergraduate students raised on smartphones and technology, QLess is a solution that aligns with modern students' preferences. It is driven by technology to increase convenience and simplify access to resources, and it makes the campus better fit for a future even more driven by technology.
Higher education institutes' success is determined by their ability to provide a good education and student experience. As we've mentioned, students are customers. They can pursue their education elsewhere. If higher education institutes are overwhelming them with bureaucracy, making it incredibly difficult to reach staff, and making class bookings a dreaded part of every semester, this will heavily impact how students feel about their university. The QLess cloud-based appointment scheduling software can dramatically impact the student experience. It completely changes how they navigate the university administrative process and streamline it more conveniently. Let's explore how a school scheduling system improves the student experience. The QLess queue management software reduces the need for students to spend any time waiting in line at academic offices. Students can check in from their dorms, apartments, cafes, libraries, or wherever they are, see the length of the line and plan accordingly. This is the perfect solution for students who still aren't comfortable spending a lot of time in a crowded environment. Students have more freedom to determine how the administration process works for them. Using QLess for class bookings similarly makes things drastically more convenient. It is an intuitive process that can be done with a drag and drop dashboard interface from your phone. Because there can be access restrictions, students can determine their schedule according to the restrictions on their accounts. This will reduce the frustration of dealing with outdated scheduling systems that make registration a nightmare.Focusing on the student experience is a great way for universities to grow their prestige and increase their profitability. According to Forbes, companies that lead in the customer experience area outperform companies that lag behind by 80%. Implementing school scheduling systems is a proven way to improve the overall on-campus student experience.
Education is about using information to better understand the world around you. Data is similarly about using information to better understand your business. It is hard for universities to acquire solid data about processes like wait times and how certain academic offices are performing, but QLess opens the door to important insights that universities can use to inform how they structure key aspects of their operation. Without an effecting appointment scheduling and smart queue app, there is no real way for higher education institutes to gather data about wait times and no-show percentages. However, QLess business intelligence features offer highly accurate looks into several key facets of your academic offices' performance. There are numerous key metrics that QLess provides insights into. Administrators can see the median wait time, the appointment no-show percentage, how many people have been served in a day, and much more. This information is accessible on a dashboard that puts the numbers into easily understandable visual charts and trends. The data can also be segmented into several different categories. Administrators can look at trends according to academic offices, times of the day, staff, day of the week, and more. This is critical information that can reveal important trends playing out across campus. The information gathered from the business intelligence can guide decision-making on how to improve your administrative experience. If you are seeing data that indicates notable trends are playing out at certain times or in certain offices, you are armed with the information you need to address bottlenecks that could be holding back your academic offices. Data like this is incredibly valuable and can lead to an academic office that provides a more seamless and effective service to students.
Higher education can be a stressful place for both staff and students. There is a lot of pressure on all parties, and academics foster competition. It can be overwhelming and mentally exhausting, and institutions have a responsibility to limit the stress on staff and students. The issue has gotten worse in recent years, to the point where stress levels among students are a legitimate, serious concern that needs to be addressed. According to PBS, 48% of college students reported moderate or severe psychological stress in a recent comprehensive survey. There is an epidemic among students where the burdens of high tuition costs, stressful classes, and the experience of being away from family cause severe anxiety and loneliness. While higher education institutes can’t completely solve this issue on their own, easing the burden on students is a must. The pandemic has only exacerbated this issue, with anxiety and mental health problems rising across the country. While certain elements of the higher education experience are always going to be stressors, such as exams, school scheduling and academic advisement do not have to be stressful times for students. Difficulty arranging mandatory and elective classes or accessing counselors and school resources for help can cause anxiety and add to students’ stress, but this doesn’t have to be the case. Schools can make this aspect of their administrative process significantly less anxiety-inducing by providing students with appointment scheduling software that makes registration a breeze. QLess will make it drastically easier for students to manage their calendars with a simplified dashboard, administrative controls over who can access what, and an easy-to-use interface. Schools can set the requirements for students to register for classes, and students can enjoy a stress-free scheduling experience. If students need assistance, every aspect of the appointment is as frictionless as possible. QLess makes it incredibly easy to schedule an appointment, students can communicate back and forth with staff, and when they are ready for their appointment, they can check into a virtual line and wait from wherever they want. This is a way to dramatically decrease the difficulty and roadblocks of what is often an unnecessarily stressful experience. Students deserve to have their load lightened, particularly when rates of stress and anxiety are climbing to new heights.
Higher education is an incredibly important industry, and the school scheduling process is a big part of what makes it run. The student calendar can be difficult to fill properly, with many obstacles that make building a schedule a logistical nightmare. For starters, schools often don't have the resources to give proper attention to each of their students, with the ratio of students to counselors incredibly high. There are also issues like class size caps, student major obligations, and space limitations that make getting each student on track with the right schedule difficult.That is why a school scheduling system like QLess can be an asset to higher education institutes. It makes it easier for staff and students to build schedules that work under the logistical restraints, improves communication, reduces stress, and makes academic offices more efficient and accessible. Every school must offer its students the best possible academic experience, and QLess helps remove numerous roadblocks that obstruct institutions from doing this. QLess has many high-value features that remove the friction from school scheduling and academic appointments. The appointment software makes scheduling different kinds of advisement time slots simple and allows staff to effectively manage and streamline their calendars. The waiting line management software is a virtual queue students can check into and monitor wait times, reducing the need for in-person lines. And with the school scheduling system, students can seamlessly build and oversee their academic experience. QLess is a tech solution that transforms several key aspects of higher education institutions to make them more efficient, convenient, and effective. It is geared to the modern student and gives schools the tools they need to provide their students with the experience they deserve. Try a QLess Demo Today to see first-hand the value our school scheduling system can provide.
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University students attend higher education institutions with the hopes of expanding their minds and preparing for their future. Unfortunately, all too often they got lost in a system that doesn't cater to individual student experience. Instead of feeling that the administration exists for the students, attendees quickly realize that they must conform to the needs of administrators in order to be successful. Scheduling appointments, registering for classes, even asking advisors for help all become nightmarish experiences filled with long lines, tired and impatient staff, and inadequate information.
Oftentimes, students will enter university fresh-faced, excited, and ready for success. Over time, however, ineffective university resources begin to take their toll. When simple tasks like registering for classes or dealing with financial aid eat up so much of their time, their desire to continue with their education slowly decreases. Students struggle to gain support from on-campus systems, which explains why consistently negative experiences with campus resources are one of the main sources of attrition; unfortunately, universities struggle to increase student satisfaction with limited resources. While student experience often ranks as a top priority for administrators, improving on-campus systems seems like an insurmountable task. A large student population means long lines--there doesn't seem to be a way around the problem. Fortunately, online appointment booking tools and an effective scheduling application both provide a modern solution to a large problem in higher education.
By using an electronic scheduling application like the one from QLess, academic institutions solve the problem of impatient students before it starts. Instead of expecting students to show up, wait in a line, and hope for the best, scheduling applications allow students to book an appointment ahead of time, eliminating the need for physical queues. In an age of ever-evolving technology, an electronic solution like a scheduling application can simultaneously push academic institutions into the modern age and improve the student experience.
Perhaps the most instantaneous result of an effective scheduling application is the elimination of physical lines, without an electronic tool, students often run into long lines at every on-campus location. While long queues are frustrating at any juncture, they're particularly irritating during key points in the year. When students struggle to register for class, change programs, or ask advice about their courses due to long lines, attrition begins to develop. Instead of forcing long queues that lead to general frustration and discontent, a scheduling application assigns students a specific time with which they can complete their necessary necessary business. When each student knows the time and date they can sign up for new courses, registering for classes becomes a breeze. Even signing up to see an advisor becomes a stress-free task--each person is assigned an appointment time, eliminating the pressure on both the student and the administrator. By bypassing lines and allowing individuals to address their issues at a specified time, students no longer waste their time waiting for help. They gain more time to study, hang out with friends, or even just relax, all of which will contribute to higher student satisfaction.
While a scheduling application gives students more free time, it also tailors the university experience to a new generation. Current and incoming university students have grown up with technology. They're well-versed in mobile applications, and they actually prefer to handle most of their business electronically. Academic institutions, like any business, attract the most customers when they know their audience and tailor their services accordingly, for a mobile generation, mobile scheduling applications should be the norm.
The QLess scheduling application not only provides a mobile platform for students to access information from anywhere, it also sends text alerts to inform students of their appointment times. By creating a smartphone-friendly design, this scheduling application speaks to a main tenet of a new generation--consistent and reliable mobile communication. It ensures that students have simplified access to important academic information, and it lessens the possibility that they'll forget their appointment time and fail to show up.
While human error always stands as a distinct possibility, electronic scheduling applications allow students to feel comfortable an at-ease in their academic environments. By using technology they are already experts in, academic institutions create easy communication and connections between administrators and students. Students who feel comfortable in their academic environment are more likely to complete their university education, rather than cave to the pressures of campus life.
When students are constantly filtered into long lines and told to wait their turn, the personal element of higher education disappears. Students want to feel like their individual needs have significance, especially in an institution with the social weight of a college or university, many students accrue heavy debt in order to gain their degree. For instance, the desire to feel like their individual experience matters isn't misplaced. Difficulty gaining access to basic information and meeting essential needs for the future of their education is understandably frustrating.
Although electronic scheduling applications simply increase the organization and staff productivity on college campuses, they also allow each student to feel like they're receiving personalized attention. A specific appointment time communicates that each individual is important enough to receive focused attention, in which only their specific questions and needs matter. Simple as it may sound, a scheduling application can make all the difference in creating what feels like an individualized learning environment, despite the fact that each student receives the same time and attention to discuss their needs.
If students have a problem with campus systems, they want to make their opinions known; unfortunately, when it's difficult to even get a meeting in the first place, students don't feel that their concerns are being heard. Even if every individual problem can't be addressed immediately, allowing students to provide feedback on their experience can greatly improve student satisfaction with on-campus life. University processes may not change immediately, but allowing students to feel heard and appreciated subtly communicates that their opinion matters.
A scheduling application allows students the opportunity to address their concerns, without eating up the essential time of administrators. Instead of sitting in an office and listing off every complaint, students can fill out electronic surveys, effectively and quickly communicating the elements of the campus system that don't work for them. Feedback provides a two-fold opportunity for growth within the university. First, administrators hear student concerns quickly and easily, allowing them to adjust future processes to fix the most common problems. Second, students get their frustrations off their chest, lessening their irritation and providing hope that things will change in the future. A scheduling application allows universities to listen and react to the needs of their students, without decreasing the productivity of their staff. Students have a hand in the improvement of their education, and it doesn't come at a cost to either students or administrators.
Academic institutions are designed to push students towards graduation; unfortunately, the decision to leave university altogether is a common one. While each individual leaves their academic institution for their own reasons, dissatisfaction with campus resources often appears as one of the major sources behind drop-outs. Although it sounds like a no-brainer, it's worth stating that students who are satisfied with their college experience are far more likely to stay in school and eventually graduate.
An effective scheduling application increases student satisfaction with on-campus services. Students express their concerns, gain personalized attention, and generally improve their ability to function within a university setting. With a scheduling application, graduation seems like an achievable goal, rather than a faraway possibility. When students believe that they can graduate, they're much more likely to work towards that goal. Instead of feeling overwhelmed by the work in front of them, students see a clear path towards reaching their degree. Sometimes a little hope and a plan is all it takes. Happy students who believe they can graduate are more likely to graduate. A scheduling application brings that goal to the forefront of their minds, encouraging students to stay in school and earn their degrees.
Using a QLess scheduling application can change the life of university students everywhere. By eliminating physical lines and cutting down waiting times, scheduling applications allow students to feel like they're experiencing the personalized education they deserve; in addition, the mobile platform results in easy use for a tech-savvy generation and an opportunity for instantaneous feedback on campus services. Happy students are much more likely to stay in school, and to spread positivity about their academic institution, both online and in their personal life. If you want to increase your graduation rates, you need to learn more about QLess systems today. If you think our system might be the right fit for you, contact us now. We'll answer all your questions about QLess solutions. For more on improving campus operations and retention rates, read about how we've created college campuses without lines.
A well-developed workflow management system simplifies business processes at colleges and universities tremendously. As a business, these institutions provide education and degrees to their customers, also known as their students. Although colleges and universities stand as one of the most essential business organizations in young adult life, technological systems on-campus are often not on par with the fast-paced, technology-driven environment of the day. As incoming students reflect more expertise in current technology, so should their places of education. A workflow management system can change life at your university, both for your students and for your administrators.
In a school environment, multiple departments and individuals work together to contribute to the larger education machine. While some units identify prospective students, review applications, and send out offers of admissions, other divisions focus on registering current students for classes, organizing appointments with advisors, and assisting students with on-campus problems. Each of these individual systems work together to contribute to the overall goal of the organization--educating students and pushing them towards graduation, hence the need for workflow management.
A workflow management system simplifies all these processes. It's a software that automates some elements of your workflow management, taking the pressure off of your staff members and increasing the happiness of your students. By creating a streamlined network for all your most essential campus processes, a workflow management system allows each student to feel valued and supported, and each staff member to increase their productivity and efficiency.
A workflow management system creates an at-ease campus environment; not only that, it also brings your institution into the future. Easy-to-navigate education processes attract students, allowing your campus to continue running like the well-oiled machine that it is. Keeping your campus in the dark ages of technology not only hurts your students, it hurts your entire business. A high-tech workflow management system is a necessity your school can no longer do without.
Whether fair or unfair, students expect a lot of of their colleges and universities. An individualized learning experience is the standard, but most students would settle for consistent help from their on-campus systems. Unfortunately, high enrollment rates, a limited amount of resources, an overworked staff, and a surplus of tasks to complete often leave students feeling confused and overlooked. The more difficulty students experience navigating their education process, the more impatient they become. If enough time passes, the decision to leave school altogether becomes an easy one.
They're not getting the help they need to prepare for their future, why would they stay?
Consistently negative experiences with student services are one of the primary sources of attrition among college students. When students don't get the help or services they need, they drop out of classes, refrain from attending courses, or even leave the school altogether. As an organization that seeks to prepare young adults for their future, the current attrition rates are unacceptable.
Thankfully, a workflow management system presents a wonderful solution. By simplifying student access to on-campus services, a workflow management system decreases frustration and confusion among the student body. With a system like the one from QLess, you can decrease attrition rates by as much as 50%. A workflow management system improves student satisfaction and increases retention rates by allowing each student to feel like their needs are being met.
While a workflow management system improves the lives of your students, it also leads to increased productivity of your staff. A higher education environment already deals with a lack of resources, but a larger problem presents itself in an ineffective use of the resources that do exist. Oftentimes, staff stretch themselves far too thin trying to meet the needs of all students, despite the lack of time or effective organization systems to do so. Advisors overbook themselves attempting to sort out class schedules, and the Registrar and Admissions offices are overrun with impatient students. While it's undeniably unfair to the students, it's equally as frustrating for the staff.
Workflow management systems streamline campus processes and effectively allocate your staff resources. By eliminating the need for physical lines and relying on technology-based systems for organization, workflow management systems allow your administrators to gain a clear view of the tasks they need to be completed. Instead of surprise assignments and a frustrating amount of work for staff members, each administrator focuses on their assigned tasks, increasing their overall productivity. Not only does it result in increased happiness for your employees, it also ensures that all your resources are used effectively, lowering operational costs and saving money in the long run.
In our technologically advanced world, physical lines and in-person wait times just aren't practical anymore. Many of the problems that develop in university settings stem from a general lack of organization. Without a workflow management system, students are forced to go to an office, wait in line, and generally waste their time in an attempt to progress in their college experience. At the same time, administrators have little control over the time and attention needed to help each individual student. With a finite amount of resources and an infinite amount of potential questions, administrators are unable to prioritize and organize accordingly. With that lack of organization, both staff and students waste their time, and neither leaves feeling happy.
A workflow management system sorts through the chaos in your offices and eliminates the inconveniences of poor organization. Instead of arriving at an unspecified time in a physical office, students are assigned an appointment time with which they can ask all their questions. Interactive virtual queuing simplifies the process if your student does need unexpected help, and mobile reminders ensure that each student arrives at their specified appointment time. Most importantly, all these processes are completed inside the system, without assistance from your staff, allowing them to save their abilities to actually help students and bypass the errors that often accompany in-person scheduling.
An effective workflow management system changes your on-campus life immediately. Improved allocation of resources, clear processes for students, and increased organization all lead to instantaneous changes in your business systems. However, workflow management systems also provide information on what needs to change in the future. As a completely automated process, workflow management systems collect valuable information on your student and staff patterns. Student wait times, staff efficiency, student needs--all these and more can be found within your workflow management system.
With QLess systems specifically, we provide a real-time dashboard that consolidates data from multiple offices. At a glance, you have a general idea of what's happening in all areas of your campus. In addition, surveys within the system provide even more information about student satisfaction and necessary changes. Improving your business is a constantly evolving process, workflow management systems provide valuable insights to ensure that you can provide the best resources to your students for years to come.
We don't need to tell you that colleges and universities need students to stay afloat. Enrollment and retention present a major challenge for higher education institutions. That explains why many student administrators list student retention and student experience as their top priorities. While students may drop out when dissatisfied with their education, the ripple effect extends much farther than a single loss. Unhappy students spread information online and within their communities about the ineffectiveness of the school, giving other individuals the message that your institution isn't worth attending. While an individual drop-out can already present a hefty loss, consistent dropouts can negatively affect your application and enrollment rates over time.
An effective workflow management system leads to increased student happiness and higher retention rates over time, but it also allows your students to talk positively about your institution. Not only are you saving money on attrition, you're also building a strong reputation that will draw more students to your school over time. Reputation matters, both for the present and for the future. Workflow management systems support your ability to meet your student's needs, building a strong reputation as an institution that cares. With a reputation like that, who wouldn't want to apply?
Workflow management systems are a necessity in the modern age. It increases the happiness of your students and staff, leading to higher productivity and increased retention rates. In addition, it organizes your office with little effort from your staff and provides valuable insights into how you can improve your processes in the future. If you're ready to build a strong reputation, meet your students' needs, and save money for your business, you need to take the QLess approach. Learn more about how our electronic queuing system can enhance your education systems today. Please contact us for more information about our system.
Waiting rooms have been an essential aspect of hospitals, doctor's offices, and other healthcare facilities. But it doesn’t take much thought to realize the idea is counterintuitive. Crowding individuals with ailments in congested areas while they wait for assistance is not ideal. This was only further emphasized as a person-to-person airborne pandemic struck the world. Patient queue management software can be the solution to remedy this.This experience caused many healthcare professionals to have to re-evaluate their waiting procedures. There were concerns about pandemic transmission in waiting rooms and the overall healthcare experience. Amid virus anxiety, would patients sit with others even with a mask on?For a while, there were no true means of eliminating the waiting room. But in recent years, to address these concerns, many healthcare providers have been implementing patient queue software like QLess. This software aims to help reduce patients’ anxiety and create a waiting room experience that meets customers' expectations. The healthcare industry is crowded, and consumers abandon providers that can't meet their needs. According to Medical Economics, 69% of patients would switch providers for better services. Patient queue management software is an impactful solution that can de-congest waiting rooms and provide a safer, more patient-friendly experience. In a time where consumers easily switch businesses, the patient experience is vital. Below, we will break down what patient queue management is, how a virtual queue management system creates safer spaces, and why this is so important for patients and healthcare organizations.
Before we go any further, it is important to fully understand what patient queue management software is. The idea is relatively straightforward, and it has changed the healthcare sector. Why not have a virtual waiting room to manage customer flow instead of a physical one? Patients can access this virtual waiting room from their phones, computers, or on-site kiosks.With key features that enable customers to track the actual wait times for appointments, monitor the progress of the line they’re in, and communicate with staff, patients have a drastically changed experience when using healthcare services. Some organizations still hesitate to embrace and implement digital technology into the patient experience. But data indicates that customers already rely on digital technology and expect organizations to accommodate that reliance. According to a poll from Healthfully, 80% of consumers want the ability to use technology to manage their healthcare experience. Furthermore, the average consumer uses tech constantly throughout their daily lives. The average U.S. adult spends more than seven hours a day on screens, according to Exploding Topics. Healthcare organizations should prioritize implementing helpful tech solutions like patient queue management to avoid customer alienation. Patient queue management software has substantial benefits that enterprises should not overlook. With features that allow customers to enter virtual queues from their phones, patients can remotely wait in the virtual waiting room and monitor their queue times. Implementing virtual queues doesn't mean healthcare organizations need to eliminate waiting rooms. It simply gives patients the ability to choose.
The million-dollar question that healthcare organizations might have is whether or not waiting rooms are such a bad thing. Waiting rooms were the only option for healthcare services before technology advanced enough to make them less necessary. So how bad could it be? By implementing software to eliminate waiting rooms, might healthcare organizations solve a problem that doesn’t exist? The answer to this question is a firm no. Waiting rooms pose a genuine risk to older patients' well-being. A 2012 study of elderly residents of long-term care facilities published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal showed that a visit to an emergency department is associated with more than a threefold increased risk of acute infection. While this vindicates the need for patient queue software, it is also common sense. Requiring sick and injured people to share a room for extended periods increases patient risk. The pandemic highlighted that the prior waiting room model is untenable during an airborne virus outbreak among those visiting emergency rooms and doctors' offices. Healthcare providers adapted by spacing chairs, having customers wait outside, and mandating masks. While they may have curbed the virus from spreading, they reduced operational efficiency and didn't enhance patient satisfaction. It is not insignificant that waiting rooms also have extremely long patient wait times. The longer customers are cramped in a waiting area, even if socially distanced, the more at-risk they are. Similarly, the more unhappy they will be. This is why it is incredibly important for enterprises to be very conscious of the state of their waiting rooms.
We’ve established that waiting rooms might inadvertently put customers at risk, but what do your patients think of them? Customer satisfaction is vital in healthcare, as it's still a business, and unhappy customers can easily switch providers. The waiting room is a defining step in the patient's journey before receiving service. So it is worth asking if increasing patient satisfaction in the waiting room experience is necessary or if customers are okay with the current status quo. Data shows that consumers distrust crowded waiting rooms and dislike the experience they provide. A QLess survey of 250 U.S. adults showed that 59.4% of consumers associate congested waiting areas with unsafe conditions. If customers feel unsafe in the waiting room, chances are they will not enjoy their overall experience. A contributing factor in this situation is that the average waiting room is just not a pleasant place to be. Typical healthcare waiting rooms present sterile environments with white walls, fluorescent lighting, outdated magazines, and a T.V. This is hardly a positive environment, and according to Fierce Healthcare, unpleasant waiting rooms are a bigger issue for customers than long wait times. Rather than investing in more comfortable chairs or a higher-definition television, enterprises should focus on the real problem. Customers just don’t like waiting rooms either way. Patients prefer waiting from home or nearby cafes to congested waiting areas. Giving the consumer the option to skip the waiting room altogether is the best solution to a longstanding problem.
The healthcare industry is about more than just improving patients’ well-being, although that is the primary objective. The modern consumer isn’t satisfied with just receiving excellent quality of care. The experience for patients along the way is not nearly as important. Healthcare organizations that want to survive in this new age of experience-centric care will do well to improve their waiting room. According to Forbes, 60% of Americans have had a negative healthcare experience in the past year, and 52% of those people will tell others about their negative experiences. Curating a positive waiting experience without risk and discomfort is important in building a patient-friendly healthcare organization. This will help create loyal customers and position healthcare companies to succeed.
It is clear that there is a need for change in the waiting room experience. Customers don’t feel safe, and there is an established correlation between emergency waiting room visits and further infections. The problem has only gotten worse in recent years. A 2022 study by Yale showed that emergency room crowds had reached crisis levels and posed significant patient safety risks. The same is true across Canada. The crowding is due to an overstressed system, not necessarily management failure. De-congesting the waiting room is incredibly important for both safety and satisfaction. Let’s explore how patient queue management software can lead to less crowded waiting rooms while providing efficient patient flow.
The primary feature that QLess offers that is designed to help de-crowd the waiting room is its remote check-in software. In a typical waiting room without a patient queue management solution, individuals have to check-in in person. They arrive at the front desk, inform staff they’ve arrived, fill in a form, and take a seat, waiting to hear their name called. This requires physical presence throughout the waiting process. Remote check-in software lets customers wait for their appointment without physically arriving until it begins. How this works is that customers will receive a link when they register for an appointment. They can access this link via mobile devices, computers, or an on-site kiosk. When their appointment is scheduled, they can tap the link and check in. Once they’ve checked into their appointment, the patient is automatically placed in a virtual queue. The queue displays the number of customers ahead and the projected wait time based on data tracking and machine learning, accounting for the line's size and wait times at different parts of the day. Customers can be queued based on appointment type or healthcare professional they're meeting. They can track their progress through an app or website and know when to be there. This means lines can move smoothly without customers needing to be in the waiting room until the end. This also lines up with what customers prefer. In a QLess survey of 250 consumers, 57.2% of respondents indicated they are likelier to patronize a business if they have early insights into wait times. QLess virtual queuing system's remote check-in feature eliminates the need for customers to enter waiting rooms until their appointment begins. They can choose whether they are comfortable in that environment and wait on their own terms.
Long wait times in healthcare have been a persistent issue and seem unavoidable due to the nature of the industry. Demand often exceeds the ability of facilities to provide efficient service due to the need for proper care and attention for each patient. This is why patients wait an average of over 18 minutes at physicians’ offices, according to PartnerMD, and 145 minutes at the average emergency room, according to Autoinsurance.org. Patient queue management software can’t entirely solve the issue of long waits that are endemic to the healthcare industry. However, it can provide organizations with a tool to increase staff productivity, manage customer flow, and improve overall efficiency, positively impacting wait times.
There are two key ways this software helps with this. Firstly, the patient queue management system completely automates the queue process, so enterprises don’t need to oversee it themselves. The software has configurable policies, like no walk-ins or a maximum 5-minute late policy for appointments. Then, the lineup can be completely automated, with the artificial intelligence-based system drastically more efficient and organized than a standard physical queue. QLess’s patient queue management software also has smart calendar features that give staff a better sense of their day. The entire appointment calendar is displayed for them, showing the customer, appointment type, and more. The calendar is color-coded and organized and can be segmented, so employees have a heightened understanding of their daily workflow, increasing overall efficiency. By reducing wait times, healthcare organizations can reduce the time people need to spend waiting for appointments. The remote check-in features allow customers to wait from wherever they please, but inevitably there will still be some customers that prefer to wait for appointments in waiting rooms. With automated queue management and smart calendar features, the QLess patient queue management system ensures waiting times are trimmed, resulting in less crowded waiting areas.
Communication in the healthcare process is incredibly important. Customers strongly desire communication from end-to-end in the healthcare process, and having better communication can lead to safer waiting rooms. With better communication, enterprises can create safer waiting rooms in several ways. Having customers that indicate they might be contagious wait remotely will reduce infection risk, and enabling customers to message staff if they are running slightly behind but still keep their appointment will lead to fewer delays. While this type of communication could lead to a safer, less crowded waiting area, many enterprises are ill-equipped to offer this level of communication. Customers expect communication, particularly through digital methods. According to Forbes, 80% of consumers surveyed said they prefer to use digital communications with their healthcare providers, and 43% said they want to engage digitally with their healthcare providers before, after, and during their visits. But many enterprises lack the digital infrastructure to provide this level of communication that customers are hoping for, even if it can make customers happier and lead to safer waiting rooms. The QLess patient queue management system empowers healthcare organizations with bi-directional communication features that improve the connection between customers and staff. With the QLess features, organizations can drive a more communicative approach to healthcare. They can individually message customers and receive responses, schedule messages to entire groups of customers, and create automated messages triggered at different parts of the patient journey. Better communication means less confusion, as late customers or no-shows often trigger chain reactions that lead to extended delays. With better communication, there are fewer bottlenecks, which means lines move faster and waiting rooms are less crowded. This also improves the patient experience, as enterprises can answer patients' questions digitally during busy times when they might not have the time to respond face-to-face.
One of the most significant ways healthcare organizations have pivoted away from the standard waiting room model is by leaning into virtual healthcare. The pandemic made face-to-face appointments a near-impossibility at many practices, and to combat this, many organizations pivoted to virtual healthcare options like telehealth. Providing medical care virtually remains important even after the peak days of the pandemic. According to McKinsey, virtual healthcare remains hugely impactful, with 46% of consumers using telehealth now compared to 11% in 2019.Telehealth leads to less congested, safer waiting rooms for obvious reasons. With the option to schedule remote healthcare appointments, customers don’t need to visit healthcare offices at all. If customers have a mild but contagious illness, healthcare organizations can schedule virtual appointments to ensure they don’t spread their illness. Ultimately, the fewer in-person visits, the less crowded waiting rooms will be. But many organizations might buckle under the weight of managing an entire virtual calendar without the proper digital solution.
QLess has virtual service features that enable healthcare organizations to provide a positive patient experience remotely. QLess is integrated with Zoom and Microsoft Teams, two popular video meeting platforms, and enables organizations to put customers in mixed queues that accommodate in-person and remote patients. How this works for remote patients is they would schedule an appointment online and select a virtual appointment. They will then receive a QLess link and be placed into a virtual queue when they check in for their appointment. They will then be able to monitor their wait time, see who is in front of them, and receive a Zoom or Teams link when their appointment is ready to begin. Virtual appointments are a crucial part of the post-pandemic world. The QLess patient queue management platform enables enterprises to integrate remote patients into their virtual queues and digital calendar, creating a smooth appointment process and easier virtual appointment management.
The waiting room is a longstanding problem in the healthcare industry that most organizations have neglected to address. The concept of making ill or injured patients wait for long periods in a congested room is one that doesn’t hold up to scrutiny, although there haven’t been other options for organizations until recently. Now that QLess for healthcare and other patient queue management systems exist, the need for waiting rooms has been drastically reduced. These digital solutions enable enterprises to create a virtual queue where customers don’t have to be physically present to wait in line or in the waiting room. The customer can check in, monitor their status in line, and communicate updates with staff, all from their phones or computers. This means they can wait outside the office, from their home, at a nearby park, or wherever else they’d prefer. Customers can still wait in waiting rooms if they want to, but QLess allows them to wait remotely, helping to drastically reduce congestion in healthcare offices. Reducing risk in the waiting experience should be an important objective for all healthcare organizations, and it resonates with customers. Consumers strongly dislike the typical waiting room process that has been the norm in healthcare for ages. With QLess’s queue software, healthcare businesses can meet the needs of the experience-oriented patient while creating a safer, more positive waiting process.
