Abstract
BackgroundMany studies suggest that patient satisfaction is significantly negatively correlated with the waiting time. A well-designed healthcare system should not keep patients waiting too long for an appointment and consultation. However, in China, patients spend notable time waiting, and the actual time spent on diagnosis and treatment in the consulting room is comparatively less.MethodsWe developed an artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted module and name it XIAO YI. It could help outpatients automatically order imaging examinations or laboratory tests based on their chief complaints. Thus, outpatients could get examined or tested before they went to see the doctor. People who saw the doctor in the traditional way were allocated to the conventional group, and those who used XIAO YI were assigned to the AI-assisted group. We conducted a retrospective cohort study from August 1, 2019 to January 31, 2020. Propensity score matching was used to balance the confounding factor between the two groups. And waiting time was defined as the time from registration to preparation for laboratory tests or imaging examinations. The total cost included the registration fee, test fee, examination fee, and drug fee. We used Wilcoxon rank-sum test to compare the differences in time and cost. The statistical significance level was set at 0.05 for two sides.ResultsTwelve thousand and three hundred forty-two visits were recruited, consisting of 6171 visits in the conventional group and 6171 visits in the AI-assisted group. The median waiting time was 0.38 (interquartile range: 0.20, 1.33) hours for the AI-assisted group compared with 1.97 (0.76, 3.48) hours for the conventional group (p < 0.05). The total cost was 335.97 (interquartile range: 244.80, 437.60) CNY (Chinese Yuan) for the AI-assisted group and 364.58 (249.70, 497.76) CNY for the conventional group (p < 0.05).ConclusionsUsing XIAO YI can significantly reduce the waiting time of patients, and thus, improve the outpatient service process of hospitals.
Highlights
Many studies suggest that patient satisfaction is significantly negatively correlated with the waiting time
Some studies indicate that patient satisfaction is significantly negatively correlated with actual waiting time [2, 4,5,6,7]
While some studies believe the perception towards waiting time will affect overall satisfaction, but actual waiting time will not [3, 8]
Summary
Many studies suggest that patient satisfaction is significantly negatively correlated with the waiting time. A well-designed healthcare system should not keep patients waiting too long for an appointment and consultation. Waiting time in outpatient clinics is recognized as one of the main issues in outpatient healthcare worldwide [2]. It has two dimensions: actual waiting time and perceived waiting time [3]. Some studies indicate that patient satisfaction is significantly negatively correlated with actual waiting time [2, 4,5,6,7]. A well-functioning hospital ideally should not keep patients waiting too long for appointment and consultation [2, 9]
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