First Advisor

Dunemn, Kathleen

Date Created

12-2019

Abstract

Waiting time for a patient at an outpatient department to see a doctor and completing the examination after registration was one problem in most countries and causes patient dissatisfaction. Long times for waiting leads to a reduction in timely treatment, overcrowding in the waiting area in the hospital, and is majorly unpleasant for any patient. Other factors that can contribute to waiting times are the layout of the medical facilities, the quantity and availability of medical equipment, and patient flow. In Vietnam, a developing country in Southeast Asia, patients are facing an issue of patient overload in public hospitals, especially in central hospitals. Total waiting time was estimated at 104.1 minutes. According to 2018 survey results from Department of Medical Examination and Treatment under the Vietnam Ministry of Health (MOH), more than 20% of patients were not satisfied, focusing on waiting time problems for treatment. This study assessed the length of outpatient waiting times, identified factors contributing to the long waiting times and associated factors that influenced patient satisfaction levels in the outpatient department in public hospitals at the district level (Tan Phu District Hospital), and suggested recommendations for improving the quality of services. A non-experimental, exploratory field study approach was used to conduct this investigation. The study was prospective in nature and the data were primarily quantitative. Real-time data of 35 patients and selected patients’ interviews were obtained by using a pre-existing standard survey tool issued by Vietnam Ministry of Health (2018). The completed questionnaires and patient waiting times between registration, being seen by the doctor, and completion of the doctor’s visit were collected by the researcher. Then the data were entered and analyzed in the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS).Then, the researcher captured the data and analyzed it using the SPSS. Thirty-five patients were involved in the study and a majority of the participants appeared to be mostly satisfied, with several being very satisfied, with their care at Tan Phu Hospital in the outpatient setting. Among five evaluated criteria, the highest satisfaction rating was for behavior and professional competence of medical staff and, as a consequence, most of the participants would definitely come back or recommend the hospital to others. Waiting times to see the doctor were considered quite reasonable for walk-in patients in this study at a public outpatient setting in which 95% of participants waited less than 60 minutes. Limitations for this study included a small sample size and collected data times. Thus, the study might not be representative of the whole patient population at Tan Phu Hospital. Future studies should expand to the entire day with a larger sample size to evaluate waiting times and patient satisfaction at Tan Phu hospital. Also, this study could be carried out at other district hospitals in the healthcare system in Vietnam.

Keywords

Patient satisfaction; Waiting time; Outpatient department; Quality

Extent

70 pages

Local Identifiers

DatThesis2019

Rights Statement

Copyright is held by the author

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