A study on patient waiting time in neurology OPD of a tertiary healthcare centre and its association with patients' demographic profile

Abstract

This study is aimed at assessing the patients’ waiting time in the neurology outpatient department of a tertiary health care institution in North East India. This is a prospective observational study where duration of patients’ waiting time, doctor consultation time and total waiting time were noted and recorded for each patient. The participants were enrolled randomly in this study and total number of participants was 80 including men and women from different age ranges. The results included data records of (1) The mean waiting time which was found to be 110.86 minutes (2) Mean consultation time was 5.34 minutes and (3) Mean total waiting time was found to be 116.20 minutes. From the findings of this study, it can be concluded that efforts need to be taken to reduce the long waiting time; which is identified by the WHO as an important index for determining the quality and satisfactory health services; in order to help improve patient’s satisfaction, winning their trust as well as their willingness and promptness to acquire basic healthcare needs and services.