First Advisor

Dunemn, Kathleen

Date Created

8-2019

Embargo Date

8-1-2019

Abstract

Long patient waiting times in primary healthcare clinics in South Vietnam such as Thong Nhat Hospital and An Giang Hospital are a common phenomenon. In South Vietnam, especially at the Cho Ray Hospital, long patient waiting times were to be expected. Unfortunately, very little knowledge exists regarding potential causes of this problem or how it impacts patients. The purposes of this non-experimental, exploratory field study were to (a) assess the process and outcomes of an outpatient clinic as they related to waiting times, factors contributing to waiting times, and associated factors (outcomes) that influenced patient satisfaction levels in the outpatient department in public hospitals and to (b) provide recommendations for clinic structure by suggesting changes to the flow chart for future health checks. In the analysis section, data were extracted from the hospital information system: time when the patient completed the registration, time patient waited for the doctor, and consultation time begun at the beginning of the consultation until the end for the consultation--the latter was noted at the moment patients had their prescriptions. The mean time for waiting to see the doctor was 37 minutes, the mean time from patients’ registration until end of the consultation was 47 minutes, and mean consultation time was 9.3 minutes. Longest times recorded for waiting to see a doctor and time from registration until completion were 83 minutes and 93 minutes, respectively. Patient responses ranged from 60% to 100%: 15 respondents scored this area at 80% or below and 20 respondents scored this area at 90%. Regarding the question “If you have a medical need, will you come back or introduce others to this clinic,” 34 or 97.1% of survey respondents indicated they would definitely come back or recommend the clinic to others.

Extent

64 pages

Rights Statement

Copyright is held by the author

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