2025•Fraser Health Authority

Emergency Department Wait Times Website Updates

Optimizing how users make decisions during a health crisis.

FigmaWeb DesignFeature DesignData Visualization

Team

Individual

Duration

August - September

Role

UX/UI/Product Designer

Overview

The ED Wait Times website is a tool developed by the Vancouver Coastal Health design team, which provides waiting time estimates for hospitals and urgent primary care centers across British Columbia’s Lower Mainland. This network of facilities includes both Vancouver Coastal Health and Fraser Health sites.

The Problem

Fraser Health facilities have been experiencing elevated wait times shown on this website, and while these are accurate, we have noticed that a user of the website located near a Fraser Health hospital or UPCC would be deterred from visiting if they see that the wait times shown are more than 3-4 hours. This is an issue because the times are inexplicably showing the 90th percentile of wait times, which always shows a high wait time number.

Solution

Since the website is hosted and managed by Vancouver Coastal Health, our leadership at Fraser Health has decided to present a better solution for showing wait times.

  • Choose a different variable for the wait time number shown.
  • Impliment a wait time graph based on previous weekly, monthly, or yearly data.
  • Include a graph showing Canadian Triage and Acuity Scale (CTAS) wait time data.
  • Create a new in-app tool called the CTAS-Calculator to help users understand where they may be on the scale.

Projected Results

  • Range of Times: Updating from the 90th percentile time to a range of times, may be more appealing for users when choosing a site to visit.
  • Improved Decision-making: Users have access to more wait time data and a tool for seeing the severity of their health issue using CTAS.

Research & Design

  • Spoke with users of the website to hear about their experiences.
  • Studying similar tools to see how they are successful and what information they provide for users.
  • Design the updated interface, validate with users, and share with the team.
  • Suggested new features such as a wait times graph, and a patient CTAS calculator.

    Key Takeaways

    • Patients are heavily influenced by wait times for local hospitals and UPCCs.
    • The numbers showcased on the ED Wait Times website do not make Fraser Health sites desirable.
    • Working on this project allowed me to explore solutions and new features to improve the tool.

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