Time Management of Outpatient Department at King Khalid Guard Hospital

Time Management of Outpatient Department at King Khalid Guard Hospital

Introduction

Healthcare system in Saudi Arabia offers two types of services. One is a network of primary healthcare centers and clinics that provide basic services and treatment, as well as mobile clinics for remote rural areas, which is provided by public sector. The second type is provided by both public and private sectors, which represent hospitals and specialized treatment facilities located in urban areas. One of the biggest specialist hospitals in Jeddah is King Khalid National Guard Hospital. It has qualified medical staff and has updated medical technology instruments. However, the outpatient department of this hospital has problem with time management of the appointment booking. Therefore, Teriq, one of the group members, noticed this problem when he was working at the hospital. So, he recommended this idea for our proposal that he can give to the hospital after we do it.

Purpose of the Research

Outpatient department is considered to be the pivot department of the hospital. At the outpatient clinic the patient are not hospitalized, but instead they come to a physician's office, clinic, or day surgery office for treatment. This department represents a complex system through which many patients with varying needs pass each day. A successful schedule for an appointment system is an important factor to control patient waiting times for the clinic sessions. The time that patients spend at the waiting area to get in for their turn usually is unacceptable and put the patients in a stress on clinic staff. Being curious if this situation we conducted an interview with the outpatients services some patients in outpatient clinics. The purpose of this interview was to obtain an understanding regarding the waiting time at the outpatient clinics. Overwhelmingly of patients and managers as well agreed that long delays for patients were unacceptable. Most of the outpatient's managers were very wondering and want to know why they waste the patient's time. So, we conduct as researchers a study on King Khalid National Guard Hospital to improve outpatient's services department strategies to help the staff to manage the time and satisfied all patients.

Research Design

Our research would be based on both quantitative and qualitative data. We will do our research by comparing public sector hospital and semi public (King Khalid Guard Hospital). We will take a sample of 100 patients from each of the hospitals especially those patients who wait a lot. We will done this through filling questionnaires from patients, on field interviews with different patients who were having different illness, also interviews with doctors and nurses about what issues they face when they are dealing with the patients. Time duration would also be done through on field survey.

Questionnaire Design

Our questionnaire would be based on customer (patient) oriented. We will be asking the major problem they face when they come to our outpatient department. Following are some questions that we would be asking to the ...