Evidence map›Paper›PMID 28503269›Full record

ArticleMalaysian family physician : the official journal of the Academy of Family Physicians of Malaysia2017

An assessment of patient waiting and consultation time in a primary healthcare clinic.

B A Ahmad, K Khairatul, A Farnaza

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Malaysian family physician : the official journal of the Academy of Family Physicians of Malaysia, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 51 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
51citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

51 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Trial
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  5. Review
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  7. Review
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  9. Article
  10. Corrigendum to "Caring for people living with dementia and their informal caregivers: Current perspectives in Malaysia".Malaysian family physician : the official journal of the Academy of Family Physicians of Malaysia · 2025
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  13. Virtual nurse support to enhance antipsychotic adherence in schizophrenia: A South African perspective.The South African journal of psychiatry : SAJP : the journal of the Society of Psychiatrists of South Africa · 2025
    Article
  14. Article
  15. Article
  16. Challenges in Obtaining and Seeking Information Among Breast Cancer Survivors in an Asian Country: a Qualitative Study.Journal of cancer education : the official journal of the American Association for Cancer Education · 2024
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

B A AhmadUniversiti Teknologi MARA, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia.
K KhairatulUniversiti Teknologi MARA, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia.
A FarnazaUniversiti Teknologi MARA, Selayang Campus, Jalan Prima Selayang 7, 68100 Batu Caves, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia E-mail: farnaza@salam.uitm.edu.my.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Waiting is a common phenomenon in the doctor's waiting room. The purpose of this audit is to assess patient waiting time and doctor consultation time in a primary healthcare clinic and to formulate strategies for improvement. This audit was conducted at a primary care clinic for 4 weeks using the universal sampling method. All patients who attended the clinic during this period was included in the study except for those who required more time to be seen such as those who were critically ill, aggressive or those who came for repeat medication or procedures only without needing to see the doctor. The time of arrival was captured using the queue management system (QMS) and then the patient was given a timing chit which had to be manually filled by the staff at every station. The waiting time for registration, pre-consultation, consultation, appointment, payment and pharmacy were recorded as well as consultation time. The data were entered into the statistical software SPSS version 17 for analysis. version 17. Results showed that more than half of the patients were registered within 15 minutes (53%) and the average total waiting time from registration to seeing a doctor was 41 minutes. Ninety-nine percentage of patients waited less than 30 minutes to get their medication. The average consultation time was 18.21 minutes. The problems identified in this audit were addressed and strategies formulated to improve the waiting and consultation time were carried out including increasing the number of staff at the registration counter, enforcing the staggered appointment system for follow-up patients and improving the queuing system for walk-in patients.

Indexed as

Clinical auditconsultation timegeneral practicepatient waiting timeprimary care

Identifiers

PMID28503269
PMCPMC5420318

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.