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

Inaccurate patient scheduling disrupts the continuity of care between patient and provider, diminishing satisfaction. One clinic had 19% of patients scheduled incorrectly after follow-up from emergency room visits. The purpose of this project was to reduce the number of incorrectly scheduled patients following up from emergency room visits that required orthopaedic consultations from advanced practice providers (APPs) and monitor the impact the change process had on APP job satisfaction. The design was nonexperimental, did not have a control group for comparison, and used standardized electronic health record documentation. A pretest and posttest design was used for the job satisfaction survey. Postimplementation data showed patients were correctly scheduled 97% of the time. Provider satisfaction improved from 2.375 to 3.125 on a 0- to 5-point scale as it pertains to clinic scheduling. Organizations can benefit from the use of standardized communication documentation to ensure proper follow-up for patients, improve continuity of care, and positively impact provider satisfaction.