People
Current processes
fishbone Diagram Assignment
Outdated filling method
Inadequate staff
Staff lateness
A lot of paper work
Unexpected patients due to missed appointments
Some non-emergent patients are seen in the emergency department
Queue jumping
Manual management of Queues
Long waiting times
Wrong referrals
Insufficient IT equipment
Inadequate doctor rooms
Slow response to repairing of equipment
Limited resources in the emergency department
Poor maintenance of hospital
Environment
Equipment
Long waiting times are a significant outpatient problem in my workplace. Long waiting times contribute to multiple public health issues, among them compromised access to healthcare, interference with work patterns or flow, and patient dissatisfaction (Alrasheedi et al., 2019). The fishbone diagram indicates that numerous underlying factors cause long waiting times at the facility. People factors such as inadequate staff hospital staff, lateness, jumping of queues, wrong referrals, and unexpected patients in the outpatient setting because of missed doctor appointments contribute to long waiting times. Inadequate hospital personnel is directly associated with prolonged waiting times (Gaughan et al., 2019). The most important thing besides equipment and facilities in healthcare organizations is healthcare personnel such as physicians, nurses, and laboratory technicians, among others (Altema et al., 2020). Without them, hospital resources such as equipment cannot be used properly, and services cannot be offered as required. The front desk staff has failed to make follow-up calls appropriately, leading to missed appointments. As a result, patients make unexpected visits outside the appointed time, leading to long outpatient queues. According to Ir et al. (2011) indicate that poor management of no-shows or missed appointments is associated with longer waiting times.
Other factors such as wrong referrals make patients make queues in lines they are no supposed to, leading to time wastage and patient dissatisfaction. Besides, staff lateness makes patients wait for longer than expected. Some of the facility's current processes/methods, such as the filling method and a lot of paperwork, contribute to long waiting times. Healthcare facilities that require patients to do more paperwork experience prolonged waiting times (Sharma & Chowhan, 2012). Filling systems can cause frustrating problems and too long waiting hours. These long delays turn routine appointments into commitments that require a lot of time because files cannot be retrieved easily (Reichert & Jacobs, 2018). The hospital's filling method is outdated, and the staff can sometimes take longer to recover patients' files. The hospital's IT infrastructure in the outpatient setting is not robust and extensive, and as a result, information flow and exchange are impaired. All these factors play significant roles in causing too long queues at the facility.
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References
Alrasheedi, K. F., AL-Mohaithef, M., Edrees, H. H., & Chandramohan, S. (2019). The association between wait times and patient satisfaction: Findings from primary health centers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Health Services Research and Managerial Epidemiology , 6 , 233339281986124. https://doi.org/10.1177/2333392819861246
Altema, J., Bien-Aime, K., Roger, M. C., & Blaise, W. (2020). Causes of long wait time in health consultation services and strategies to reduce them: An observational study in rural Haiti. The Lancet Global Health , 8 , S33. https://doi.org/10.1016/s2214-109x(20)30174-1
Gaughan, J., Kasteridis, P., Mason, A., & Street, A. (2019). Why are there long waits at English emergency departments? The European Journal of Health Economics , 21 (2), 209-218. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10198-019-01121-7
Ir, D., Johari Dato Mohd Ghazali, R., Hazilah Abd Manaf, N., Hassan Asaari Abdullah, A., Abu Bakar, A., Salikin, F., Umapathy, M., Ali, R., Bidin, N., & Ismefariana Wan Ismail, W. (2011). Hospital waiting time: The forgotten premise of healthcare service delivery? International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance , 24 (7), 506-522. https://doi.org/10.1108/09526861111160553
Reichert, A., & Jacobs, R. (2018). The impact of waiting time on patient outcomes: Evidence from early intervention in psychosis services in England. Health Economics , 27 (11), 1772-1787. https://doi.org/10.1002/hec.3800
Sharma, S. K., & Chowhan, S. S. (2012). Patient waiting time: It’s impact on hospital outpatient department. International Journal of Scientific Research , 2 (3), 253-254. https://doi.org/10.15373/22778179/mar2013/79
