Average medical visit time in Iran: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: Visit length is an indicator that can be used to assess patients' satisfaction of the health care services. In recent years, some studies have focused on the mean visit time in Iran. This study aimed at determining the average visit time in Iran by performing a systematic review and meta-analysis. Methods: In this study, Embase, PubMed/MEDLINE, Scopus, ISI/Web of Science databases, and Google Scholar search engine, as well as Iranian national databases/thesauri, such as MagIran, SID, and Irandoc were used. These databases were searched from their inception until September 2017. The quality of retained studies was assessed using the STROBE checklist. Average visit length was reported using stochastic model with 95% confidence interval (CI). I2 and Q tests were used to assess the heterogeneity of the studies. A sensitivity analysis was conducted to ensure the stability of the results. Results: After searching the scholarly databases and reviewing the articles based on inclusion and exclusion criteria, 6 studies were finally selected. Based on the random model, the mean visit time was 4.89 minutes in Iran, ranging from 4.66 to 5.12 minutes (p=0.82). The most time visit in specialists belonged to psychiatrists with 9.12 (7.28 to 10.96) minutes (p=0.19) and the lowest belonged to internists with 3.59 (2.24 to 4.95) minutes (p=0.00), respectively. Conclusion: The average visit time in Iran was estimated to be 4.89 minutes. To increase patients' satisfaction and provide a better disease treatment and management in Iran, the following suggestions could be helpful: properly distributing physicians across the country, reducing waiting lists, and implementing the use of guidelines to standardize the visit time.