At University of Minnesota's new clinic, patients are tracked electronically

Two features of the University of Minnesota's new, high-tech outpatient center come down to this — you always know where you are, and so do your doctors.

Upon entry, patients receive green, wireless badges, which allow caregivers to find their precise locations on monitors and give them prompt attention.

Just as McDonald's workers get alerted if drive-through customers wait too long for Happy Meals, clinic workers get notified if patients sit more than 15 minutes in the waiting room.

And instead of yelling, "Mrs. Johnson? Mrs. Johnson? The proctologist will see you now," nurses can pinpoint patients' locations and find them.

Barbara Burwell noticed; the Orono cancer survivor was one of the center's first patients on Monday when she received her quarterly checkup. "It feels like going into the Apple store," she said.

All of the U's outpatient clinics were moved from older spots, such as the Phillips-Wangensteen tower, to the $165 million Clinics and Surgery Center on the East Bank. The building includes 30 infusion bays for chemotherapy, and six operating rooms.

Electronic tracking offers more than efficiency. If a patient is diagnosed with a highly contagious infection, for example, the clinic could review his or her interactions to see who else might be at risk for exposure.

Burwell appreciated the open space and daylight after a decade of visits to the old gynecologic oncology clinic that was in a basement and felt like a "tomb."

"What I notice is just the energy of this place," she said.

Even the ORs have large windows. Normally, the need for a bacteria-free environment makes such windows too risky. But the designers installed triple-pane windows with air conditioning between the layers to regulate temperature and humidity.

Burwell was amused by first-day jitters at the center; nobody could find a drawer with a gown for her. But her visit went well — her health was so good that her checkup schedule was reduced — and she even had mobile phone service while she waited to have labs drawn.

Waiting in the old location used to be a numbing, disconnected-from-the-world experience next to a vintage fish tank.