19 Performance of health providers.pmd

1Department of Community and Family Medicine, University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan. 2Department of Health Policy and Management, Jordan University of Science and Technology, Irbid, Jordan. Received: 30/04/03; accepted: 26/10/03 ABSTRACT The study analysed time utilization by a sample of 111 physicians, nurses and midwives in 62 primary health care facilities in Jordan. The providers’ activity over each shift was coded at 3-minute intervals using an activity sampling technique and patient–provider contact times were recorded. Overall, health providers spent the nearly half their time (48.7%) as ‘down time’ (waiting, breaks and non-work related activities), with 29.1% as clinical activities and 22.1% as non-clinical work-related activities. Physicians had higher clinical and down times than nurses and midwives; waiting for patients accounted for half the down time. The mean physician–patient contact time was 3.08 minutes. An appointment system is recommended to reduce down times for health providers and increase consultation times.