ABSTRACT
Objective:To explore the application effect of time-sharing appointment in the peripherally inserted central catheter(PICC) maintenance clinic.Methods:Patients with medical appointments within two months before and after the application of time-sharing appointment practice in the PICC maintenance clinic were selected. Patients with appointment before application were control group and took paper appointment sheet manually while those after application were study group and took time-sharing appointment. Waiting time, average number of patients waiting per pre-specified time period, patient satisfaction and nurse satisfaction were compared between the two groups.Results:The median waiting time of the study group was 15 min, significantly shorter than that of the control group of 46 min ( P<0.01). The numbers of patients waiting in the waiting area for the study group remained relatively stable across each time period, showing low people density. In the contrast, numbers of patients waiting varied significantly for the control group and the peak of patient flow occurred in periods of 8∶00—10∶00 and 13∶30—14∶30. Patient satisfaction and nurse satisfaction of the study group were both significantly higher than those of the control group (4.99±0.05 vs. 2.15±0.17, P=0.009; 4.67±1.92 vs. 1.90±0.37, P<0.01, respectively). Conclusion:The application of time-sharing appointment in PICC maintenance clinics effectively reduces the waiting time for patients, achieves reasonable patient triage, improves the clinic environment, improves nurse and patient satisfaction, and improves the level of hospital management.