A large literature of doctor-patient communication exists, yet little is known about how symptom information is communicated in cancer care. This qualitative study explores the exchange of symptom and clinical information between cancer patients and oncologists in outpatient clinics of a regional teaching hospital. Verbatim transcripts of consultations between 14 doctors and 43 post-treatment f...

INTRODUCTION Improving outpatient resource utilization significantly enhances the efficiency of healthcare organizations. Substantial number of walk-in patients (average of 72% in our study) to outpatient services is a universal characteristic of Taiwan's healthcare organizations. Consequently, scheduling becomes extremely complicated and important. Selecting the right scheduling alternative, a...

INTRODUCTION Ultrasonograghy plays an important role in the evaluation of urinary tract disorders in cases of medical or surgical renal disorders, because of its lower cost, availability, and lack of ionizing radiation and because with it there is no need for contrast material injection or ingestion. It needs no intervention or preparation and specifically can differentiate between the multiple...

A study was carried out to identify the characteristics of children who do not attend appointments at general outpatient clinics. Over six months, 359 children who had an appointment at a general clinic were studied using a questionnaire given to parents (74% response rate) and by inspection of case notes. Based on their first appointment in the study period, children were divided into 'attende...

Patients, methods, and results For 25 weeks records were kept of all routine urine tests on new patients seen in adult clinics (other than antenatal) at this hospital. The tests were performed by nurses with dipsticks (BM-Test-5L; Boehringer, Mannheim); the urine sample had been collected by the patient at home or provided on arrival. The graded results for protein, blood, and glucose were reco...

Smooth patient flow through outpatient clinics promotes timely, effective, and safe care while delays and bottlenecks might lower ratings of patient and provider satisfaction, increasing the risk for errors that may affect patient outcomes. However, no studies have been undertaken to analyze how human interactions affect clinic efficiency and quality of care. The goal of our project is to inves...

BACKGROUND Performance management initiatives, such as the UK's Patient's Charter, are creating pressure for patients to be seen earlier at out patient clinics, thus increasing clinic workloads. There is, however, little information about whether this can be absorbed, either by utilizing spare capacity or by more efficient use of time, or whether it is likely to affect patient care adversely. ...

This paper analyzes the appointment scheduling systems in specialist outpatient clinics (SOC) to determine the optimal number of appointments to be planned in one session under different performance indicators and consult room configurations. A discrete event simulation model is constructed to model the workflow of a SOC considering three consult room configurations. Ground data are collected t...

Asthma is associated with substantial health care expenditures, including an estimated US$56 billion per year in direct costs. A recurring theme in the asthma management literature is that costly asthma symptoms, including hospitalizations and multiple emergency department (ED)/outpatient visits, can often be prevented through patient/family adherence to the national (National Institutes of Hea...