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Outpatient clinic: where is the delay?
H R H Patel1, C N Luxman, T S Bailey
1Department of Urology and Minimal Access Surgery, Whittington Hospital NHS Trust, Highgate Hill, London N19 5NF, UK.
Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine
|December 4, 2002
Summary
Outpatient clinic inefficiencies persist, with 41% of time lost to non-patient activities. Despite new nurse-practitioner clinics, patient consultation times have decreased, highlighting the need to address administrative burdens and missing information for better urology care.
Area of Science:
- Urology
- Healthcare Management
- Clinical Operations
Background:
- Outpatient clinic efficiency is crucial for patient care.
- Extraneous activities significantly reduce consultation times.
- Previous studies indicated persistent inefficiencies in urology clinics.
Purpose of the Study:
- To measure the time components of outpatient episodes in a general urology follow-up clinic.
- To assess changes in consultation time and clinic efficiency over thirteen years.
- To identify key areas of time loss and potential improvements.
Main Methods:
- Observational study measuring time allocation during outpatient urology consultations.
- Analysis of 167 patient episodes.
- Comparison of current data with a study conducted thirteen years prior.
Main Results:
- 41% of clinic time was spent away from the patient.
- Key time-loss activities included administration (17%), disturbances (15%), and finding results (9%).
- Average patient consultation time decreased from 7.6 to 4.8 minutes after the introduction of nurse-practitioner-run clinics.
Conclusions:
- Clinic inefficiencies remain largely unchanged over thirteen years.
- Despite efforts like nurse-practitioner clinics, direct patient time has reduced.
- Addressing missing information, such as radiology reports, offers the most accessible improvement strategy.