Telehealth Virtual Waiting Room Locking for Queue-Preserving Scheduling
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Solution Overview
Problem
Telehealth systems face inefficiencies in managing virtual waiting rooms, leading to prolonged wait times and resource conflicts when scheduling virtual encounters, as patients may be unavailable during the scheduling process.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a scheduling system that locks out patients from selection in the virtual waiting room if they have waited beyond a threshold time, allowing them to maintain their place in line while unavailable, and returns them to the queue if an appointment cannot be scheduled, ensuring efficient resource utilization.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If the scheduling system contacts patients to schedule appointments while they are in the virtual waiting room, then scheduling efficiency is improved, but resource conflicts occur when patients are selected for real-time encounters during the scheduling process
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary action by locking patients out of the virtual waiting room before the scheduling contact is made. This prevents any real-time encounter selection during the scheduling process, eliminating resource conflicts before they can occur. The lock is applied in advance to ensure scheduling efficiency without compromising patient availability.
Solution Approach 2:
The system introduces an intermediary mechanism (the lock flag in the data structure) between the scheduling process and the virtual waiting room selection process. This intermediary prevents direct conflicts by mediating the state of patient availability, ensuring that scheduled patients cannot be selected for real-time encounters while the scheduling contact is active.
2Reliability
If patients are locked out of the virtual waiting room during scheduling, then resource conflicts are prevented, but patients may lose their waiting location in the queue
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements feedback by monitoring the outcome of scheduling contacts and dynamically updating patient status in the virtual waiting room. When a patient is successfully scheduled, the system provides feedback by removing them from the waiting room. When scheduling fails, the system provides feedback by returning the patient to their original waiting location, ensuring no loss of position.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the state parameter of patients in the data structure from 'available' to 'locked out' during scheduling, and then back to 'available' with restored waiting location if scheduling fails. This parameter change mechanism ensures both resource conflict prevention and maintenance of patient waiting position integrity.
3Device complexity
If the system allows real-time connection process to execute on the same contact as scheduling, then system simplicity is maintained, but conflicting resource usage occurs
Solution Approach 1:
The system applies preliminary action by establishing the lock flag before any real-time connection process begins. This prevents conflicting resource usage from the outset without adding complex runtime checks during the actual connection process. The lock is set in advance based on the scheduling contact status.
Solution Approach 2:
The lock flag serves as an intermediary mechanism that mediates between the scheduling process and the real-time connection process. It prevents resource conflicts by blocking the connection process from selecting locked patients, eliminating wasted effort without requiring complex coordination between the two processes.
Data Source
AI summary
A telehealth control system and method examine a data structure to determine whether a patient having a waiting location in an order among several patients in a virtual waiting room for a virtual encounter with a healthcare provider has been waiting at least as long as a threshold time period. Responsive to determining that the patient has been waiting for at least as long as the threshold time period, the data structure is changed to indicate that the patient is locked out of the virtual waiting room while a scheduling system of the telehealth system attempts to schedule an upcoming virtual appointment involving the patient. Responsive to being unable to schedule the upcoming virtual appointment involving the patient, the data structure is changed to return the patient to the virtual waiting room without the patient losing the waiting location in the order of the virtual waiting room.