Health service development model to reduce waiting time in out-patient department at Namon Hospital, Kalasin Province

Abstract

This research is a Participatory Action Research (PAR) following the principles of Kemmis & McTaggart (1998). It involves four stages: Plan, Action, Observation, and Reflection. The research was conducted in one cycle and employed Lean concepts to enhance the service delivery model aiming to reduce the waiting time in the outpatient department. The study sample was divided into two groups. Group 1 consisted of 105 patients from the outpatient department, selected through Simple Random Sampling. Group 2 consisted of 32 interdisciplinary professionals involved in the development process. Research tools used included a satisfaction questionnaire and a service-time recording form. Data analysis was done using descriptive statistics, such as frequency distribution, percentage, mean, standard deviation, and maximum and minimum values. Inferential statistics used the Paired Sample t-test to compare average waiting times and satisfaction levels before and after the service model enhancement.

            Research findings are as follows: 1) The existing service problem in the outpatient department showed that the waiting time was 169 minutes, which exceeds the hospital and health service standards of Hospital Accreditation (HA) set at most 120 minutes. 2) The service model development led to the elimination of unnecessary steps and the combination of redundant processes, reducing the number of service steps from 11 to 9. 3) The average waiting time for outpatient services was reduced from 189.20 minutes to 121.33 minutes (P-value<0.001). 4) Comparing satisfaction levels before and after service model development, there was an increase from a moderate level of 3.29 to the highest level of 4.61 (P-value < 0.001).

            The results of this research provide a new service model that can reduce waiting times and enhance the satisfaction levels of service recipients. Relevant organizations can adapt this new service model to fit the context of their specific service units.