ULA

Walk-in clinics across Ontario are facing significant operational challenges due to increased demand for services and staffing shortages, exacerbated by the pandemic. The surge in patient volume has led to wait times ranging from 1.5 to 3 hours, causing operational inefficiencies and increased costs due to staff overtime and stress. The average diagnosis time for a physician ranges between 12-15 minutes, with up to 5 minutes wasted per patient due to communication issues, limiting physicians to seeing only 4-6 patients per hour. Miscommunication arises from patient anxiety, low health literacy (with 60% of Canadian adults reporting low health literacy), and language barriers. Canada welcomes approximately 500,000 immigrants annually, significantly increasing the demand for healthcare services. With 85% of patients in walk-in clinics being immigrants, language barriers further complicate communication, leading to extended diagnostic processes and inefficiencies. This results in a loss of approximately $500,000 in potential revenue for a medium-sized clinic due to communication challenges. Prolonged wait times and inefficient care delivery lead to patient dissatisfaction, prompting them to seek services elsewhere, reducing repeat visits and impacting revenue. Despite past attempts to manage patient flow through redirection tools or queuing systems, these efforts have consistently fallen short in addressing patient-physician variability during consultation time.