Assessment of Scheduling Method,Appointment Delay, and No-show Rate in the Ultrasound Unit of a Nigerian Teaching Hospital

Abstract

Increasing incidence of no-shows has been identified as a major challenge to planning of appointment schedules which imparts negatively on revenue generation and system efficiency. This cross-sectional study analysed the scheduling method in use, appointment delay time, appointment compliance rate and no-show rate of patients in the ultrasound unit of a Nigerian tertiary hospital, using observation, patient records and questionnaires. Information obtained were: The time interval between clinician request and examination appointment schedule, patient load distribution, scheduling method, number of patients scheduled and number that kept to appointment scheduling, and as well staff opinion on reasons for patients’ length of stay for ultrasound investigations. The results showed that the single-block scheduling method was used and patients’ arrival was highest between 7:12 and 9:00 hours with decreasing rate as the day progresses. The time interval between request and appointment was 12–14 days. Appointment compliance rate was observed to be 5.5, while no show rate was 4.5. Poor state of ultrasound machines was observed to be the highest contributing factor to patient delays with Kendall’s coefficient of concordance 0.466. The findings of this work can be utilized in efficient planning of public hospital ultrasound units to enhance patient access.