Patients using the health care system often experience waits — to see a physician, to have an x-ray taken, to find out the result of a test. While every effort should be made to minimize waiting time, satisfaction on the part of a patient can be greatly improved simply by communicating the expected delay.  The patient may have no frame of reference for how long it might take until the x-ray is taken or when the results of a lab test may come back. When staff members say it will be a "short" wait, they might mean 30 minutes, but the patient may interpret "short" as five minutes.  If it actually takes 30 minutes, the patient is dissatisfied. It is therefore important to ensure that the patient or customer, depending on the situation, has the same expectation as the staff member.  Also make sure that any time the goal cannot be met, the patient is told why and what the new expectation should be. Lack of communication about what to expect and when is often the greatest source of patient complaints.