PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Jerry Levesque
AU  - Earl R. Bogoch
AU  - Barb Cooney
AU  - Brenda Johnston
AU  - James G. Wright
TI  - Improving patient satisfaction with time spent in an orthopedic outpatient clinic
DP  - 2000 Dec 01
TA  - Canadian Journal of Surgery
PG  - 431--436
VI  - 43
IP  - 6
4099  - http://canjsurg.ca/content/43/6/431.short
4100  - http://canjsurg.ca/content/43/6/431.full
SO  - CAN J SURG2000 Dec 01; 43
AB  - Objective: To determine if patient satisfaction can be improved by changing patients’ expectations of the clinic visit and by decreasing the total time spent in the clinic.Design: A prospective comparative analysis carried out in 4 phases.Setting: An university-affiliated orthopedic outpatient clinic.Patients: All patients seen in the orthopedic outpatient clinic were eligible. Phase 1 determined the total clinic time required by patient type; phase 2 assessed baseline satisfaction; phase 3 altered patients’ expectations; and phase 4 altered patients’ expectations and scheduled visits by patient type.Intervention: Patient questionnaires.Main outcome measure: Patient satisfaction with time spent in the clinic.Results: Of 708 distributed questionnaires, 622 (88%) were completed (547 totally complete, 75 partially complete). Total time spent in the clinic decreased across phases 2, 3 and 4 (mean 99.2, 94.7 and 85.2 minutes, respectively, but was significantly different only between phases 3 and 4; p = 0.05, Duncan’s multiple range test). The percentage of patients who rated their waiting time as “excellent” increased across phases 2, 3 and 4 (14.6%, 18.8% and 31.1%, respectively; p = 0.0004, χ2 test).Conclusion: Patient satisfaction can be improved by altering patient expectations and by decreasing the total time spent in clinic.