Patient Waiting Times In A Nurse Managed Clinic

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This study evaluates the waiting times experienced by patients in a primary care nurse managed clinic in a large southern metropolitan area over a two week period of time in October and two week period in December of 1995. The waiting times include: waiting room, examination room, time spent with the nurse practitioner, and total elapsed time in clinic. Subjects included all patients who had scheduled appointments with the nurse practitioners during the study period. The patient groups served by this primary care clinic are adults who are students or employees of a university and private patients who are members of managed care organizations.The mean time interval from arrival in clinic to being placed in an examination room was 13.75 minutes. The nurse practitioners spent an average of 22.8 minutes with each patient and the patients were in and out of clinic in 49.05 minutes.This is the first study to document waiting times specifically in a nurse managed clinic.It is significant in that it documents that a nurse managed clinic waiting times and provider care times are dramatically better than national norms for clinics other than those managed by nurse practitioners.