Intervention program to reduce waiting time of a dermatological visit: Managed overbooking and service centralization as effective management tools

Background Long waiting times are an impediment of dermatological patient care world‐wide, resulting in significant disruption of clinical care and frustration among carers and patients. Objective To reduce waiting times for dermatological appointments. Methods A focus group including dermatologi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	International journal of dermatology Vol. 46; no. 8; pp. 830 - 834
Main Authors:	Bibi, Yuval, Cohen, Arnon D., Goldfarb, Dan, Rubinshtein, Elias, Vardy, Daniel A.
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01-08-2007 Blackwell Science
Subjects:	Ambulatory Care Facilities - organization & administration Ambulatory Care Facilities - utilization Appointments and Schedules Biological and medical sciences Dermatology Dermatology - organization & administration Efficiency, Organizational Humans Medical sciences Office Management Patient Dropouts - statistics & numerical data Practice Management, Medical Waiting Lists Workload - statistics & numerical data Clinical management Treatment Dermatology Waiting time Tool
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Summary:	Background Long waiting times are an impediment of dermatological patient care world‐wide, resulting in significant disruption of clinical care and frustration among carers and patients. Objective To reduce waiting times for dermatological appointments. Methods A focus group including dermatologists and management personnel reviewed the scheduling process, mapped potential problems and proposed a comprehensive intervention program. The two major approaches taken in the intervention program were revision of the scheduling process by managed overbooking of patient appointments and centralization of the dermatological service into a centralized dermatological clinic. Results Following the intervention program, the average waiting time for dermatological appointments decreased from 29.3 to 6.8 days. The number of scheduled appointments per 6 months rose from 17,007 to 20,433. Non‐attendance proportion (no‐show) decreased from 33% to 28%. Dermatologist work‐hours were without significant change. Conclusions Waiting lists for dermatological consultations were substantially shortened by managed overbooking of patient appointments and centralization of the service.
Bibliography:	ArticleID:IJD3078 istex:036CE7437A8ADA6E3D7A3A4A4994EE6849A84C4B ark:/67375/WNG-P77KH121-1 ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23
ISSN:	0011-9059 1365-4632
DOI:	10.1111/j.1365-4632.2007.03078.x