What patients actually want to know in the emergency department

The most cited study on emergency department satisfaction followed 1,631 patients. What predicted satisfaction was how long they felt they had waited, how well they had been informed and how courteous staff were. The actual waiting time did not.^[1] A 2025 systematic review found the same thread: information about waiting was consistently the most requested information, and satisfaction was higher when it was given.^[2]

That does not mean flow doesn't matter; it does. But it does mean the experience of a wait is shaped by what people know while they wait, and that is something a department can change today.

A patient-centred needs assessment (240 surveys plus focus groups) asked what patients want to know about waiting in the emergency department.^[3]

Two findings deserve attention. Two thirds wanted to know what to expect during a typical visit: the process, not only the clock. And one in five said a long displayed wait could make them leave, which is why estimates must come with explanations and a way to talk to a nurse.

An emergency department that offered a chat service to patients and family members found that family members sent more than three times as many messages as patients (233 versus 72). Wait time was the top topic for both, followed by diagnostic testing and the department's process. Nurses resolved 71% of family questions without involving a physician, and family members who were not in the department found it most useful.^[4]

Most of those questions are about status and process, and a system that already knows the status can answer them automatically. That leaves the human conversations for what only humans can do: explaining results, making decisions and reassuring someone who is frightened.

The research above becomes a simple rule for every patient screen in EDFlow: answer four questions, in this order.

1. Where am I in my visit? The stage, in plain words, with what usually comes next.
2. Who is looking after me? The names and roles of the care team, updated at handover.
3. What's happening now? The tests under way as a process (ordered, collected, in the lab, back), each with a usual time for this hour.
4. What can I do? Tasks like handing a sample to the nurse, and requests (water, a blanket, help to the washroom, an interpreter) that reach the right person and show when they are seen.

Everything else sits below. And every screen keeps one path in view that doesn't depend on the phone at all: if you feel worse, tell a staff member in person, now.

People read these screens in pain, tired, frightened or in a second language. About 60% of Canadian adults are below the health-literacy level needed to manage health information.^[5] In one study, 78% of emergency patients misunderstood at least one part of their care or discharge instructions, and most didn't realize it.^[6] In a Canadian emergency department, 36.5% of patients had a language barrier, and when interpretation happened a family member usually did it.^[7]

• Plain language, at a grade 6 to 8 reading level, with an icon and a label on every action.
• English and French with parity, offered actively, with safety messages in more languages.
• An "I need an interpreter" request that reaches staff, rather than relying on family members.
• Text that can grow to 200%, screen-reader support and no truncation of patient sentences.