over 10 years but were not performing well on ‘access’ because of a high number of patients who did not attend (DNA). We often had over 100 DNAs per month so many appointments were being wasted. I noticed that another local practice which permitted advance booking only 2 days ahead scored better in the ‘access’ survey than our practice. Another local practice was piloting a same day booking sys...

BACKGROUND The decision to perform an elective procedure often originates during an office visit between surgeon and patient. Several administrative tasks follow, including scheduling or "booking" of the case and obtaining informed consent. These processes require communicating accurate information regarding diagnosis, procedure, and other patient-specific details necessary for the safe and eff...

The purpose of this work is to present a practical study on the key factors of usability in small-sized mobile touch-screen applications. Though using smart phones has brought great easiness in our daily life in many ways, many smart phone applications often remain underutilized due to the poor consideration of end-users in the development phase, thus decreasing potential profit of companies. I...

OBJECTIVE To determine the risk of pre-eclampsia associated with factors that may be present at antenatal booking. DESIGN Systematic review of controlled studies published 1966-2002. DATA SYNTHESIS Unadjusted relative risks were calculated from published data. RESULTS Controlled cohort studies showed that the risk of pre-eclampsia is increased in women with a previous history of pre-eclam...

Eighty five volunteer general practitioners in Lothian region recorded clinical and contextual information on 21,000 consultations during 1987-88. During their recording sessions they reported their perceived levels of stress using a previously validated scale. Subsequently, 80 of the doctors completed a previously validated multi-dimensional scale about their attitudes to patient care. Three a...

OBJECTIVE To characterise the pregnant homeless population booking and delivering at St Mary's Hospital, London, and ascertain whether their obstetric outcome was adversely affected by their homeless condition. DESIGN Retrospective comparison of demographic characteristics of 185 homeless women booking for delivery with those of housed women booking in the same period and with the population ...

This paper considers a seat inventory control problem in which flights depart sequentially and passengers purchase available seats depending on customer choice behavior. Customer choice behavior can lead to either a horizontal shift or a booking loss when a desired fare class is unavailable. This problem is mathematically challenging and intractable via exact mathematical models. As an alternat...