Using a human-centered, mixed methods approach to understand the patient waiting experience and its impact on medically underserved populations
Abstract Purpose To use a mixed methods approach to investigate the patient waiting experience for a medically underserved population at an outpatient surgical clinic. Methods We used lean methodology to perform 96 time-tracked observations of the patient journey in clinic, documenting the duration...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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BMC
2022-11-01
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| Series: | BMC Health Services Research |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-022-08792-8 |
| _version_ | 1797801497780551680 |
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| author | Elizabeth N. Liao Lara Z. Chehab Kathryn Neville Jennifer Liao Devika Patel Amanda Sammann |
| author_facet | Elizabeth N. Liao Lara Z. Chehab Kathryn Neville Jennifer Liao Devika Patel Amanda Sammann |
| author_sort | Elizabeth N. Liao |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Purpose To use a mixed methods approach to investigate the patient waiting experience for a medically underserved population at an outpatient surgical clinic. Methods We used lean methodology to perform 96 time-tracked observations of the patient journey in clinic, documenting the duration of activities from arrival to departure. We also used human-centered design (HCD) to perform and analyze 43 semi-structured interviews to understand patients’ unmet needs. Results Patients spent an average of 68.5% of their total clinic visit waiting to be seen. While the average visit was 95.8 minutes, over a quarter of visits (27%) were over 2 hours. Patients waited an average of 24.4 minutes in the waiting room and 41.2 minutes in the exam room; and only spent 19.7% of their visit with an attending provider and 11.8% with a medical assistant. Interviews revealed that patients arrive to their visit already frustrated due to difficulties related to scheduling and attending their appointment. This is exacerbated during the visit due to long wait times, perceived information opacity, and an uncomfortable waiting room, resulting in frustration and anxiety. Conclusions While time tracking demonstrated that patients spend a majority of their visit waiting to be seen, HCD revealed that patient frustrations span the waiting experience from accessing the appointment to visit completion. These combined findings are crucial for intervention design and implementation for medically underserved populations to improve the quality and experience with healthcare and also address system inefficiencies such as long wait times. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-13T04:51:23Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-4ac84ecd30324054b8fdcf88e2afb155 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1472-6963 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-13T04:51:23Z |
| publishDate | 2022-11-01 |
| publisher | BMC |
| record_format | Article |
| series | BMC Health Services Research |
| spelling | doaj.art-4ac84ecd30324054b8fdcf88e2afb1552023-06-18T11:10:11ZengBMCBMC Health Services Research1472-69632022-11-0122111210.1186/s12913-022-08792-8Using a human-centered, mixed methods approach to understand the patient waiting experience and its impact on medically underserved populationsElizabeth N. Liao0Lara Z. Chehab1Kathryn Neville2Jennifer Liao3Devika Patel4Amanda Sammann5Division of General Surgery, Department of General Surgery, University of CaliforniaDivision of General Surgery, Department of General Surgery, University of CaliforniaDepartment of Engineering Design, Stanford UniversityDepartment of Emergency Medicine, Thomas Jefferson University HospitalsDivision of General Surgery, Department of General Surgery, University of CaliforniaDivision of General Surgery, Department of General Surgery, University of CaliforniaAbstract Purpose To use a mixed methods approach to investigate the patient waiting experience for a medically underserved population at an outpatient surgical clinic. Methods We used lean methodology to perform 96 time-tracked observations of the patient journey in clinic, documenting the duration of activities from arrival to departure. We also used human-centered design (HCD) to perform and analyze 43 semi-structured interviews to understand patients’ unmet needs. Results Patients spent an average of 68.5% of their total clinic visit waiting to be seen. While the average visit was 95.8 minutes, over a quarter of visits (27%) were over 2 hours. Patients waited an average of 24.4 minutes in the waiting room and 41.2 minutes in the exam room; and only spent 19.7% of their visit with an attending provider and 11.8% with a medical assistant. Interviews revealed that patients arrive to their visit already frustrated due to difficulties related to scheduling and attending their appointment. This is exacerbated during the visit due to long wait times, perceived information opacity, and an uncomfortable waiting room, resulting in frustration and anxiety. Conclusions While time tracking demonstrated that patients spend a majority of their visit waiting to be seen, HCD revealed that patient frustrations span the waiting experience from accessing the appointment to visit completion. These combined findings are crucial for intervention design and implementation for medically underserved populations to improve the quality and experience with healthcare and also address system inefficiencies such as long wait times.https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-022-08792-8Waiting roomPatient experienceMedically underserved populationOutpatient clinic |
| spellingShingle | Elizabeth N. Liao Lara Z. Chehab Kathryn Neville Jennifer Liao Devika Patel Amanda Sammann Using a human-centered, mixed methods approach to understand the patient waiting experience and its impact on medically underserved populations BMC Health Services Research Waiting room Patient experience Medically underserved population Outpatient clinic |
| title | Using a human-centered, mixed methods approach to understand the patient waiting experience and its impact on medically underserved populations |
| title_full | Using a human-centered, mixed methods approach to understand the patient waiting experience and its impact on medically underserved populations |
| title_fullStr | Using a human-centered, mixed methods approach to understand the patient waiting experience and its impact on medically underserved populations |
| title_full_unstemmed | Using a human-centered, mixed methods approach to understand the patient waiting experience and its impact on medically underserved populations |
| title_short | Using a human-centered, mixed methods approach to understand the patient waiting experience and its impact on medically underserved populations |
| title_sort | using a human centered mixed methods approach to understand the patient waiting experience and its impact on medically underserved populations |
| topic | Waiting room Patient experience Medically underserved population Outpatient clinic |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-022-08792-8 |
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