Subspecialty Clinic Scheduling for Emergency Room Follow-ups: A Focus on Provider Satisfaction

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Management
• Patient Care Coordination
• Clinical Informatics

Background:

• Inaccurate patient scheduling negatively impacts continuity of care and patient satisfaction.
• A specific clinic experienced a 19% error rate in scheduling follow-up appointments after emergency room (ER) visits requiring orthopaedic consultations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To decrease the incidence of incorrectly scheduled patients referred from ER visits to advanced practice providers (APPs) for orthopaedic consultations.
• To evaluate the effect of the scheduling improvement process on APP job satisfaction.

Main Methods:

• A nonexperimental design was employed without a control group.
• Standardized electronic health record (EHR) documentation was utilized for patient scheduling.
• A pretest and posttest survey design assessed APP job satisfaction before and after the intervention.

Main Results:

• Postimplementation, the correct patient scheduling rate increased to 97%.
• Provider satisfaction scores related to clinic scheduling improved from 2.375 to 3.125 on a 0- to 5-point scale.
• The intervention demonstrated a positive impact on APP job satisfaction.

Conclusions:

• Standardized communication documentation in EHRs is effective in ensuring proper patient follow-up.
• Implementing standardized processes improves continuity of care and patient outcomes.
• Optimizing scheduling processes positively influences provider job satisfaction and clinic efficiency.