Improving Outpatient Service in Hospital Rehabilitation Departments using Appointment Strategies

Improving Outpatient Service in Hospital Rehabilitation Departments using Appointment Strategies

The demand for rehabilitation outpatient services is increasing because the global population is aging. However, most rehabilitation outpatient clinics in Taiwan do not use an appointment model so it is necessary to consider on-site waiting time to introduce a more efficient management model. This study determines the effectiveness of introducing three appointment scenarios by modeling rehabilitation patient visits at six to eight appointments per half hour.
Strategies to preserve the walk-in ratio are also proposed. Accepting six appointments per half hour (Scenario A) gives the best results and the respective variance in the maximum waiting time, maximum completion time and maximum completion time decreases by 62.6%, 28.9%, and 97.8%. There is a significant improvement for a walk-in ratio of≤40%. The results conclude that the quality of outpatient services is improved by ensuring that walk-in patients account for less than 40% of the total number of patients.