Improving Adult ART Clinic Patient Waiting Time by Implementing an Appointment System at Gondar University Teaching Hospital, Northwest Ethiopia

Background. Long waiting time has been among the major factors that affect patient satisfaction and health service delivery. The aim of this study was to determine the median waiting time at the Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART) Clinic before and after introduction of an intervention of the systematic appointment system. Methods. Patient waiting time was measured before and after the introduction of an intervention; target population of the study was all adult HIV patients/clients who have visited the outpatient ART Clinic in the study period. 173 patients were included before and after the intervention. Systematic patient appointment system and health education to patients on appointment system were provided as an intervention. The study period was from October 2011 to the end of January 2012. Data were analyzed using SPSS software version 17.0. Independent sample t-test at 95% confidence interval and 5% significance level was used to determine the significance of median waiting time difference between pre- and postintervention periods. Results and Conclusion. The total median waiting time was reduced from 274.8 minutes (IQR 180.6 minutes and 453.6 minutes) before intervention to 165 minutes (IQR 120 minutes and 377.4 minutes) after intervention (40% decrease, p=0.02). Overall, the study showed that the introduction of the new appointment system significantly reduces patient waiting time.