[The telephone accessibility of the prior appointment program]

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Access and Delivery
• Primary Care Research
• Health Services Management

Background:

• Efficient patient access to healthcare services is crucial for timely medical attention.
• Telephone-based appointment systems are a common method for patients to connect with primary care providers.
• Assessing the ease of telephone access is vital for evaluating healthcare system performance.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the ease of telephone access for patients seeking medical appointments in primary care.
• To quantify the number of telephone calls required to secure an appointment with a healthcare provider.
• To compare telephone accessibility between rural and urban primary care settings.

Main Methods:

• A cross-sectional, observational study design was employed.
• The study included primary care centers in the Murcia Region with established appointment systems.
• A random sample of practitioners was included, with telephone calls made until appointments were secured.

Main Results:

• An average of 2,333 telephone calls were needed per appointment, with a deflection rate of 2,271.
• The mode and median number of calls per appointment was 1, indicating frequent success on initial attempts.
• Significant differences in call distribution were observed across different time blocks and between rural and urban centers.

Conclusions:

• Telephone accessibility for medical appointments in primary care is generally at an appropriate level.
• Both rural and urban areas demonstrate adequate telephone accessibility for patients.
• The findings support the continued use and potential optimization of telephone systems for appointment scheduling.