How to Reduce Perceived Wait Time

By Ali Shahi | August 18, 2026
An empty waiting area with two banks of black beam seating, a magazine on a glass table, and a potted plant beside a full-height window casting stripes of sunlight across the floor

Two things have real evidence behind them. Changing what the waiting area contains, and explaining the wait. Both were tested recently, in hospitals. One on a few hundred people, the other on 23. Neither was tested on how long the wait felt. That gap runs through nearly all of the advice reviewed for this article.…

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