This paper analyzes the impact of type of insurance, income, and reason for appointment on waiting time for an appointment and waiting time in the physician’s practice in the outpatient sector. Data were obtained from a German patient survey conducted between 2007 and 2009. We differentiated between GP and specialist and controlled for socioeconomic, structural, and institutional characteristic...

BACKGROUND Missed appointments are a common occurrence in primary care in the UK, yet little is known about the reasons for them, or the consequences of missing an appointment. This paper aims to determine the reasons for missed appointments and whether patients who miss an appointment subsequently consult their general practitioner (GP). Secondary aims are to compare psychological morbidity, a...

BACKGROUND While there is a significant focus on the health and well-being of women during pregnancy, labour and birth, much less emphasis is placed on the care of postpartum women and their infants in primary care following the birth. Some studies have investigated the role of GPs in postpartum care, and others examined facilitators and barriers to mothers accessing care. However there is litt...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Missed clinic appointments significantly impact continuity of care, resident education, and clinical productivity. This national survey analyzed the awareness of family practice residency clinics regarding their missed appointment rate and the use of reminder systems. METHODS We mailed a questionnaire to all 468 family practice residency programs in the United States...

OBJECTIVE To study the "learning curve" associated with independent practice in coronary artery surgery. DESIGN Retrospective analysis of prospectively collected data. SETTING All NHS centres in north west England that carry out cardiac surgery in adults. PARTICIPANTS 18 913 patients undergoing coronary artery surgery for the first time between April 1997 and March 2003, 5678 of whom were...

We thank Drs Chukwu and Menon for their interest in our article, and are pleased to hear that their DVD is as popular with patients as ours is. We also started out requiring men who had a history of previous scrotal surgery to come for an appointment prior to their vasectomy. This was in order to carry out an examination to check that the procedure was likely to be possible under local anaesthe...

Advanced Access model has been introduced in general practice in the United States to improve patient access to primary health care services for more than ten years. It has brought in the benefits of eliminating service provider’s waiting lists, improving patients’ timely access to services and reducing no-show rate. However, to implement this model, practices need to collect relevant informati...

BACKGROUND The issue of missed appointments in primary care is important for patients and staff. Little is known about how missed appointments, and the people who miss them, are managed in primary care, or about effective strategies for managing missed appointments. AIMS To understand the perceptions of primary care staff as to why patients miss appointments, to determine how these perception...

Introduction. The practice of modern pediatric dentistry requires delivery of quality care in combination with adherence to excellent business as well as time management principles. A definite appointment schedule should be presented to the parents on the first or second appointment. More importantly, the prescribed schedule should be followed to the best of the professional abilities of the pe...