BACKGROUND Despite interest in the relationship between patient satisfaction and consultation performance, there is little information about how other characteristics of general practitioners, practices and patients influence satisfaction with consultations. AIM To identify characteristics of patients, practices and general practitioners that influence satisfaction with consultations. METHO...

Objective. To test if appointment reminders blinded to immunization status improve kept-appointment and vaccination coverage rates. Design. Controlled trial. Setting. Pediatric clinic serving a low-income community in New York City. Intervention. Children ages 4 through 18 months (n 5 1273) scheduled sequentially for clinic appointments were systematically assigned to 1 of 4 study groups: contr...

We develop a queueing model for an appointment-based service system that consists of two queues in tandem: the appointment queue followed by the service queue. Customers join the appointment queue when they call for appointments, stay there (not physically) until the appointment time comes, and then leave the appointment queue and may physically join the service queue, and wait there until serv...

An outpatient department in which non-urgent patients arrived for consultation faces with the problem of patients’ long waiting time. Lack of an effective appointment is considered as the cause. In this study, a discrete event simulation model was developed to evaluate an appointment system. The developed system considered appointment rule, sequencing rule and environmental factor (priority rul...

BACKGROUND To determine whether the length of time between alcohol-related attendance in the emergency department (ED) and follow-up appointment with an alcohol health worker (AHW) alters attendance rate at the AHW clinic. METHODS We examined paper and computerized records made by AHWs over a 4-year period, collecting data on the length of time between identification of alcohol misuse and the...

Following recent concerns about patients' inability to book appointments in advance, this study examined the relationship between the proportion of GP appointments reserved for same-day booking, and patient satisfaction with appointment systems. In a survey of 12,825 patients in 47 practices, it was found that a 10% increase in the proportion of same-day appointments was associated with an 8% r...

Workplace preparation is increasingly part of university curricula and this has led to the appointment staff with professional practice expertise being appointed teach, who are experienced professionals yet HE novices. How do they make sense HE’s expectations begin reconcile their identity as educators credibility confers? The paper draws on sociocultural perspectives Communities Practice, fram...

BACKGROUND People with active tuberculosis (TB) require six months of treatment. Some people find it difficult to complete treatment, and there are several approaches to help ensure completion. One such system relies on reminders, where the health system prompts patients to attend for appointments on time, or re-engages people who have missed or defaulted on a scheduled appointment. OBJECTIVE...