Assessment of waiting time and satisfaction of patients with service delivery in an ambulatory pharmacy in Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH)

Abstract

Background: In the outpatient pharmacy setting, waiting time is the main indicator for assessing quality of service delivery. Long waiting times affect the efficiency of the pharmacy and cause patients' dissatisfaction.
Method: The study employed a combination of work flow analysis and a survey involving administration of questionnaires to 123  ambulatory patients in Family Medicine/General Outpatient department of LUTH.
Results: The workflow analysis revealed a total patient waiting time of 79.24min with the process component accounting for 7.9 min (9.97%) and delay component responsible for 71.34 min (90.03%). The results of the survey indicated that more than half of the
respondents felt that the queue in the pharmacy was long. In spite of this excessive delay, 80% of the respondents still felt satisfied with the services received.
Conclusion: Significant reduction in waiting time can be made by facilitating service delivery at the prescription validation and  assessment point. The excessive patient waiting time underscored the need to employ more pharmacists to improve on the  performance. It was recommended that payment point be sited within the vicinity of the pharmacy unit and that patient waiting time be effectively managed by using the waiting area as an avenue to disseminate drug information and provide educational materials to the patients.

Keywords - Ambulatory Pharmacy, Waiting time, Service Delivery, Patient Satisfaction