Tired of spending hours in a stuffy, overcrowded ER waiting room? Houston Northwest Medical Center has a solution with InQuickER. This is an emergency room service that facilitates patient satisfaction by allowing consumers to hold a place at the ER online, while waiting in the comfort of their own homes.

You can hold your place online at Houston Northwest Medical Center by paying a fee, completing an online form, and arriving at the projected treatment time. You will be seen by a health professional in the emergency room within 15 minutes, or InQuickER will refund your online fee in full. The new service is only intended for individuals who have non-life threatening medical conditions.

“We know people want more convenience and communication in the ER experience,” explains Javier Deloza, RN, critical care nursing director at Houston Northwest Medical Center. “While estimates and averages about emergency room wait times may vary, many emergency room patients end up waiting several hours in waiting rooms with no indication of when they’ll be seen with this service, users enjoy the convenience of choosing where they wait and a projected time to see a healthcare professional in the emergency room.“

“Lowering the time spent in an ER may reduce exposure to some infections spreading in the waiting room.” says Dr. George Davis, medical director of emergency medicine and chief of medical staff at Houston Northwest Medical Center.

InQuickER does not affect the wait times of other emergency room patients, nor does it allow certain individuals to “cut” in front of others. Additionally, if the projected treatment time changes due to an influx of patients requiring priority treatment, the user will be notified and given an alternate time, or a refund.

Increased demand and decreased capacity are creating traffic jams in ER waiting rooms across the country, according to the American College of Emergency Physicians, creating traffic jams in waiting rooms across the country and adding stress and anguish to an experience that invokes anxiety. To address the growing need to deliver more efficient service, hospitals are utilizing InQuickER to streamline the throughput processes while focusing now, more than ever, on patient satisfaction.

InQuickER has designed safeguards in its system intended to prevent those who have potentially life-threatening medical conditions from using the InQuickER service. Individuals requiring immediate medical treatment should go immediately to the nearest emergency department or call 911.

For more information about holding your place online, please go to www.hnmc.com/InQuickER.  At Houston Northwest Medical Center, the fee to use these services is $9.99.