Patients don’t always have patience in a waiting room. Seconds slowly tick off the clock. Pains and sicknesses seem to get worse. Kids’ screams continue to get louder. Pages of outdated magazines get flipped at a dizzying pace. There has to be a better way, right? Thanks to Robin Zee, a nurse from North Kingsville, OH, now there is. Zee, who has been an RN for 12 years, recently launched DoctorDelayed.com, a site aimed at reducing time in the waiting room and increasing patient satisfaction.

“I’d been thinking about it for a long time,” says Zee. “I deal with a lot of physicians and some are just chronically late. I had listened to patients complain and complain, and I thought ‘With so many people using the Internet now, instead of calling ahead, why not just go online?”

So that’s what she did. A few months ago, Zee launched DoctorDelayed.com, which instantly brings patients into a virtual waiting room. Patients, at no charge, can go to the Web site and type in their physician’s phone number and hit the “search” tab. If their physician participates, a screen will instantly come up showing them if the office is running on time or if there is a delay.

“If an office is running behind, it will say ‘Dr. so and so is running 45 minutes behind today,’ ” Zee says.

The technology is quite simple for physicians and their offices, too, Zee says. They go to the homepage, put in a user name and password, and are able to edit their account at will. It takes about 15 seconds to update and can also be personalized with a message. A year’s subscription to the site costs a physician $69.95. They can also subscribe for six months for a reduced fee or try a 60-day free trial.

“It takes less time than a phone call,” Zee says. “I really thought doctors could use it as a way to show that they value their patients’ time.”

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