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- Title
Analyse der Patientenwartezeiten in einer chirurgischen Poliklinik.
- Authors
Meyer, C.; Ringler, A.; Bartsch, D.; Fendrich, V.
- Abstract
Introduction: Waiting times are a negative aspect for patients and therefore have a major influence on patient satisfaction. The aim of this research study was to evaluate waiting times from registration until first contact with a doctor in the outpatient department of the Polyclinic for Visceral, Thoracic and Vascular Surgery of the University Hospital Marburg. Material and methods: Waiting times for 253 patients in the outpatient department were measured over a time period of 3 months. The mean age was 59.6 years (range 13-91 years). Patients were asked if they were satisfied with the waiting time and whether waiting time is a criterion in the choice of hospital. Results: The mean waiting time of all 253 patients was 61 min, 48 (19 %) patients had to wait less than 15 min, 42 (16.6 %) patients 15-30 min, 57 (22.5 %) patients 30-60 min, 65 (25.7 %) patients 60-120 min, 36 (14.2 %) patients 120-240 min and 5 (2 %) patients had to wait 240-300 min. The mean waiting time was 109 min in the group of dissatisfied patients, whereas satisfied patients had a mean waiting time of 46 min ( p = 0.000). We further evaluated patient satisfaction in correlation with waiting times at a cut-off of 30 min. Of the patients 163 had to wait more than 30 min whereby 106 (65 %) patients out of this group evaluated the waiting time as appropriate and 57 (35 %) as unsatisfactory. A total of 90 patients had to wait 30 min or less whereby 88 (97.8 %) patients out of this group were satisfied with the waiting time and 2 (2.2 %) were dissatisfied ( p = 0.000). For 144 (56.9 %) out of the 253 patients the waiting time was a major criterion in the choice of hospital. Conclusion: Short waiting times play an important role in patient satisfaction and therefore represent a major competitive factor. From our results we concluded that a waiting time of 30 min should not be exceeded in order to maintain a high patient satisfaction.
- Publication
Der Chirurg, 2016, Vol 87, Issue 11, p964
- ISSN
0009-4722
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1007/s00104-016-0243-9