Some patients waiting to see an emergency doctor in Toronto will be able to update their condition using a computer kiosk.

Scarborough Hospital in the city's east end is introducing the kiosks as part of a pilot project. The new approach to triage aims to make waits more interactive.

"I see this as an adjunct to good patient services," Louise LeBlanc, director of patient care at the hospital, told CBC Radio's Metro Morning on Wednesday.

"Patients definitely need to connect with the nurse, we have to know what's wrong with them."

People coming to emergency will continue to see a triage nurse when they arrive. If they are too ill to go to a waiting room, they will come straight into the department.

Most people will continue to be directed to the waiting room. Once there, patients will be able to update information on their medical condition themselves, instead of waiting for a nurse to come back to the waiting room.

For example, if someone comes in with a sore throat and then starts to feel nauseous, the patient can enter the information at the kiosk. The kiosk is similar to automated check-in services at airports, LeBlanc said.

An alert then pops up on the nurses' computer screen, and the patient's information is updated and care is reprioritized if needed.

Service in other languages

Besides English, patients can choose to answer questions in languages that are commonly used by the hospital's patient population:

• French
• Chinese (Cantonese and Mandarin)
• Tamil
• Punjabi
• Farsi
• Hindi
• Urdu

The information is then translated into English for the triage nurses.

The hospital serves more than 300 patients a day in the emergency department, with about half speaking English as a second language.

Greater accuracy

"What's great about this system is not only that it benefits our staff and physicians but also our ER patients by allowing them more direct involvement with their care, enabling more accurate triage and providing better access to appropriate care," said Dr. Hugh Scott, the hospital's president and CEO.

The hospital's high volume of patients and diverse communities make it a good testing ground for the approach, said Richard Alvarez, president and CEO of Canada Health Infoway, which is paying for about half the project's $3 million cost.

Scarborough Hospital is testing the program and expects it will be available in the fall.

The Centre for Global e-Health Innovation, University of Toronto Healthcare Resource Modelling Laboratory, the University of Alberta eTRIAGE Solution and Medisolve are also partners in the project.