Waiting time among diabetic patients in a local health clinic
Waiting time among diabetic patients is becoming an important issue considering the increasing number of this population requiring to follow up in primary care clinic. Diabetic patients have multiple stations to be visited, causing them to have a longer waiting time compared to other patients. Th...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
IIUM Press
2019
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://irep.iium.edu.my/78001/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/78001/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/78001/1/349-Article%20Text-1799-1-10-20200107.pdf |
| Summary: | Waiting time among diabetic patients is becoming an important issue considering the
increasing number of this population requiring to follow up in primary care clinic. Diabetic
patients have multiple stations to be visited, causing them to have a longer waiting time
compared to other patients. Their dissatisfaction should be investigated for further
improvement, and this should be proved. This study aims to measure the waiting and
consultation time of diabetic patients attending a non-communicable disease clinic session in
Klinik Kesihatan Seremban. A cross-sectional study was done among 190 diabetic patients in
which their waiting and consultation time had been recorded. SPSS version 23 is used for
statistical analysis. Most of the patients were age 64 (6.3%), female (63.7%) and Indian
ethnicity (44.7%). 78.4% of them were also hypertensive, and 50.5% of them had
dyslipidaemia. The majority had three concomitant chronic diseases (46.8%). Maximum
waiting time recorded was 104 minutes, with a minimum waiting time of 2 minutes. Average
waiting time was 32.73+24.37 minutes. Maximum consultation time was 45 minutes, with an
average time of 9.61+6.27 minutes. There is no significant association between waiting or
consultation time with age, gender, races and number of concomitant illness. This study
showed that the clinic has an acceptable duration of waiting and consultation time with an
average of less than 45 minutes which is fulfilling the requirements set by the Ministry of
Health. The misconception of unacceptable long waiting time experienced by diabetic patients
and chronic disease should be corrected. This study proved that waiting and consultation time
is not determined by the demographics of the patient and disease only in which patient and
public education on the acceptable waiting time should be implemented regularly. |
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