Patients spend substantial amount of time in the clinics waiting for services to be delivered by physicians and other allied health professionals. The degree to which health consumers are satisfied with the care received is strongly related to the quality of the waiting experience. Healthcare organizations that strive to deliver exceptional services must effectively manage their clinic wait.[1] Failure to incorporate consumer-driven features into the design of wait experience could lead to patient and provider dissatisfaction.
Waiting time refers to the time a patient waits in the clinic before being seen by one of the clinic medical staff.[2] Patient clinic waiting time is an important indicator of quality of services offered by hospitals.[3] The amount of time a patient waits to be seen is one factor which affects utilization of healthcare services. Patients perceive long waiting times as a barrier to actually obtaining services.[4] Keeping patients waiting unnecessarily can be a cause of stress for both patient and doctor. Waiting time is a tangible aspect of practice that patients will use to judge health personnel, even more than their knowledge and skill.
The Institute of Medicine (IOM) recommends that, at least 90% of patients should be seen within 30 min of their scheduled appointment time.[5] This is, however, not the case in most developing countries, as several studies have shown that patients spend 2-4 h in the outpatient departments before seeing the doctor.[6,7,8] A source of dissatisfaction with health care reported by patients is having to wait a long period of time in the clinic,[9] and several studies have documented the negative association between increased waiting time and patient satisfaction with primary care.[10,11]
Patients spend substantial amount of time in the clinics waiting for services to be delivered by physicians and other allied health professionals. The degree to which health consumers are satisfied with the care received is strongly related to the quality of the waiting experience. Healthcare organizations that strive to deliver exceptional services must effectively manage their clinic wait.[1] Failure to incorporate consumer-driven features into the design of wait experience could lead to patient and provider dissatisfaction.Waiting time refers to the time a patient waits in the clinic before being seen by one of the clinic medical staff.[2] Patient clinic waiting time is an important indicator of quality of services offered by hospitals.[3] The amount of time a patient waits to be seen is one factor which affects utilization of healthcare services. Patients perceive long waiting times as a barrier to actually obtaining services.[4] Keeping patients waiting unnecessarily can be a cause of stress for both patient and doctor. Waiting time is a tangible aspect of practice that patients will use to judge health personnel, even more than their knowledge and skill.The Institute of Medicine (IOM) recommends that, at least 90% of patients should be seen within 30 min of their scheduled appointment time.[5] This is, however, not the case in most developing countries, as several studies have shown that patients spend 2-4 h in the outpatient departments before seeing the doctor.[6,7,8] A source of dissatisfaction with health care reported by patients is having to wait a long period of time in the clinic,[9] and several studies have documented the negative association between increased waiting time and patient satisfaction with primary care.[10,11]
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