Contextual Practices Leading Patient Waiting Time in Public Health Facilities: A Case Study of Amana Referral Hospital OPD.

Abstract

Waiting times for health care services are identified as an important indicator of patient satisfaction, usually associated with the quality of health services. The presence of limited information about contextual practices leading to patient long waiting in health facilities in particular at Amana Referral Hospital raised the need to examine the factors influencing patient waiting time. The research design used is a case study design. A sample of 120 participants who were working at Amana Referral Hospital was categorically selected using convenience and purposive sampling techniques. Data were collected by using a questionnaire, semi-structured interview and documentary review. An in-depth interview was also employed to collect qualitative data from 12 employees selected using the purposive sampling technique. Thematic analysis was used to analyze qualitative data to supplement the quantitative findings. Quantitative data were coded and analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). The study revealed that the majority of respondents were dissatisfied with the overall time spent while waiting for health care services being associated with delays in several service points. Apparently, a shortage of health workers, inadequate facilities for service provision and logistics, few medical personnel per shift, lack of effective appointment system, types of services sought by patients and arrival time of patients were found to be causing the delays. The management should address this problem of prolonged waiting time by ensuring that the ministry responsible is consulted on the deficit observed in the number of health care providers and facilities for service provision. Also, management should address the areas of delays identified to enable patients to receive timely health care services.