The Journal of ambulatory care management
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J Ambul Care Manage · Apr 2003
Computerized telephone nurse triage. An evaluation of service quality and cost.
The current reimbursement structure of health care in the United States motivates the providers of health care services to deliver these services with a cost-conscious mentality without compromising quality. This has led to the development of alternative methods of delivering health care services, one of which is computerized telephone nurse triage. This study investigates service quality from the perception of callers who used this system on behalf of a pediatric client. ⋯ Relationship to the child had an effect on the rating of service quality as men/fathers rated the level of service quality slightly lower than their female/mother counterparts. The evaluation of cost revealed that the action taken by the caller after they spoke with the nurse resulted in significant cost savings. Computerized telephone nurse triage is a well-accepted cost-saving alternative method of health care delivery that can effectively serve a variety of callers and pediatric patients.
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J Ambul Care Manage · Apr 2003
Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical TrialEffects of educational intervention in waiting room on patient satisfaction.
This study examines the effects of a low-cost educational intervention designed to occupy the waiting time in the clinic on patient satisfaction with the clinic visit. Patients waiting for appointments were randomly assigned to two groups: (1) educational intervention in the clinic waiting room (n = 160) and (2) usual clinic care (no structured education during the waiting time in the clinic; n = 160). There were significant negative correlations between satisfaction with the visit overall and the time patients waited in the clinic waiting room (r = -.17, p = .003) and their total wait time (r = -.16, p = .005). Patients who were taught while they waited in the clinics were more satisfied with their education than the control group (t = 4.26, df = 318, p < 0.001).