Masters Degrees (Nursing and Midwifery)

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Browsing Masters Degrees (Nursing and Midwifery) by Author "Abrahams, Moira"

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    Investigating the factors that influence patients’ waiting time at an outpatient department of a tertiary hospital in Saudi Arabia
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2022-12) Abrahams, Moira; van der Heever, Mariana; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences. Dept. of Nursing & Midwifery.
    ENGLISH SUMMARY: Background Patient waiting time is regarded as the time patients spend at each service point and the overall time a patient spends in a facility. Studies have shown that prolonged waiting is associated with lessened patient satisfaction. Purpose: The aim of the study was to determine the factors influencing patient waiting time in an outpatient setting in a tertiary hospital in Saudi Arabia. Methodology: The study used a descriptive cross-sectional quantitative design. The setting was the outpatient department of a tertiary hospital in Saudi Arabia. Convenience sampling was used to sample n= 409 participants. All 409 questionnaires were returned. Response rate was 100%. Data was collected by trained Arabic fieldworkers during December 2020, using a validated questionnaire comprising mostly of closed-ended questions. Ethical approval was obtained from Stellenbosch University and the Institutional Review Board of the hospital studied. Ethical principles that were maintained included voluntary participation, informed consent, confidentiality, anonymity, and privacy. Data analysis was completed with the assistance of a statistician using REDCap and the Statistical Package of the Social Sciences, version 27. Results: The mean waiting time was 1.5 hours (90 minutes). The longest time spent was during a doctor’s consultation. The minimum time spent was 0.15 hours (09 minutes), and the maximum was 4.8 hours (288 minutes). Conclusion: The study was conducted during the 2nd wave of the COVID-19 pandemic where processes were changing quickly. Accordingly, the findings of this study, specifically in terms of the waiting time, cannot be not compared to standard organizational waiting times within the outpatient areas. This study highlighted that the waiting time is increased within certain areas of the outpatient clinics and that late patient arrivals impact the patient to staffing ratio and negatively affects the effectiveness of an appointment scheduling system. Service providers differ significantly in managing their time, some physicians add more capacity by double booking, working for extra hours to satisfy the increasing demand, whereas others hold on firmly to their daily schedules. Thus, each staffs' management of time during their assignment could lead patients to think that more staff is needed.