Somewhere in the world right now, a patient sits in a clinic waiting room ahead of a clinical trial visit. On the clipboard is eligibility status, recent labs, comorbidities, medication history, prior notes, all of it needing clinician review before anything else happens. This is the smallest waiting room in the whole system.
Zoom out, and the clinic, in a sense, is in its own waiting room. For instance, site activation cannot start until the contract is signed. Meanwhile, the contract cannot finalize until the budget settles, and the budget cannot settle until the review board approves.