We studied the length of appointments here at the Women's Group between June 13 and June 26 2002. We tracked 768 appointments and looked at the time our patients spent in the various stages of their appointments here in our clinic. 

We knew from our patient satisfaction survey last spring that  some of our patients felt they were waiting too long to see our providers. We  want to quantify how long the waits were, and then try to reduce the wait times.

We also wanted to know exactly how long our doctors and nurse practitioners spend face to face with the patients. We believe that we spend more time with our patients than other clinics, and wanted to prove that belief. 

Face-to-Face time between Providers and Patients

This is the time that the provider spent in the exam room with the patient. This does not count the time that the provider spent preparing for the visit or on phone calls and other follow-up care. 

Appointment Type Face to Face Time Ave Appt Length # Done
Colposcopy 27.00 33.00 10
Established Annual 23.62 30.36 125
Established GYN 19.49 26.76 74
Follow-up 13.77 16.15 13
New Annual Exam 38.94 59.17 36
New Gyn 37.26 60.00 27
New OB Visit 44.58 60.00 19
Post-Op 15.56 16.67 18
Post-Partum 20.11 28.33 9
Pre-Op 32.20 37.50 10
Procedure 19.11 30.00 9
Prenatal Visits 14.47 15.22 137
Ultrasounds with Dr 25.76 42.00 25
 

Wait for Provider

This is the number of minutes between the scheduled appointment time and the time that the provider entered the exam room to start the examination. This time period includes the check in at the front desk, and the time the patient spent with the medical assistant with vital signs and blood draws. 

We excluded patients who were more than 5 minutes late for the appointment and ultrasounds.  Many of the ultrasound patients spent at least 30 minutes with the ultrasonographer before the provider entered the room and we did  did not track the scheduled time that the provider was to see the patient, just the scheduled time that the patient was to first see the ultrasonographer. 

Early means that the provider saw the patient before the scheduled appointment time, < 10 means that the patient saw the provider less than 10 minutes after the scheduled appointment time, including check in and time with the medical assistant.

Total Early % < 10 % 10 - 20 % 20 - 30 % 30 - 40 % > 40 %
489 62 13% 200 41% 135 28% 69 14% 16 3% 7 1%

We are not at all satisfied with the results. We don't have any hard numbers to compare with, but our guess is that we are better than most, but not good enough. 

However, there will always be some times when we run late and this is why: When you need us to spend extra time with you we will do it. And we will not cut your time short if we need to spend extra time with a patient who was seen ahead of you.