Waiting Time and Physician’s Examination Time of Outpatients with Various Eye Diseases

Abstract

 For the reduction in waiting time and the improvement in the efficiency of the medical service, we studied difference of waiting time, etc. by diseases. We investigated the waiting time (registration time to appointment time), the length of stay (registration to the end of the medical treatment), and the treatment time (appointment time to the end). The length of stay and the treatment time of cataract were about 40 minutes longer than those of postoperative patients. In all cases but ocular fundus disease, new patients came earlier than repeat patients. In case of ocular fundus disease, repeat patients came about 9 minutes earlier than new patients. Diabetes mellitus (DM) patients were accepted 12 minutes before the appointment time. It is the latest in all diseases. Moreover, the treatment time of DM is 13 minutes longer than the others. The average treatment time of glaucoma is 29 minutes and the shortest. The average waiting time of corneoconjunctival disease is 10 minutes shorter than the others. In this analysis, we found the waiting time, etc. of each disease has unique feature according to scheduled exam and disease itself. We think that the study is useful to set up the appointment time and reduce the claims.