Patient Waiting Time In the Out Patient Department of a Tertiary Health Hospital In Mumbai |

ABSTRACT:

The amount of time apatient waits in the Out Patient Department to be seen is one factor whichaffects the utilization of health care services. Patient satisfaction hasemerged as an increasingly important parameter in the assessment of quality ofhealth care; hence, healthcare facility performance can be best assessed bymeasuring the level of patient’s satisfaction. This was a cross-sectionaldescriptive study carried out at the out patients’ departments of the BhatiaHospital, Mumbai. A total of 384 new patients were randomly selected into thestudy. A set of pretested questionnaires was used to extract information fromthe respondents; descriptive statistics was used for analysis. A total of 118(31%) of the patients waited for less than an hour in the waiting room, while371 (96.6%) spent less than 30 min with the doctor. More than half, 211 (55%)of the respondents were satisfied with the service delivery in the hospital,while only 63 (16%) of the respondents admitted to being given health talkswhile waiting to be seen by the doctor. Although majority of the patientswaited for more than 1 h before being attended to, more than half of them werehowever satisfied with the services rendered to them. There is the need forhealth care institutions and providers to put in place measures aimed atreducing waiting time and ensuring patient satisfaction.