ArticlePloS one2025
Protocol: Waiting time and ways of accessing specialized health services in public hospitals in Ecuador.
Article in PloS one, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
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.
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.
Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Is 10 minutes sufficient? Follow-up consultation in Ecuadorian Social Security health systems.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Waiting time for scheduled outpatient specialist consultations by access pathway in public hospitals in Ecuador.PloS one · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
This study aims to determine the waiting time and the forms of access to specialized health services in public hospitals in Ecuador. A representative sample of 32 hospitals under the Ministry of Public Health was considered, with 26 selected by accessibility convenience. Data will be collected using a structured questionnaire. Patients will be asked about the number of days they waited for their medical appointments and the method used to schedule their appointments. The study distinguishes between standardized access, based on Ecuador's formal referral and counter-referral system, and non-standardized access methods, such as personal connections or hospital staff involvement. The data of this protocol are registered and publicly accessible at: https://dx.doi.org/10.17504/protocols.io.261ge5z7wg47/v1. We expect to identify a correlation between waiting times and the type of access to specialized medical services, with non-standardized access potentially leading to shorter waiting times. This research may highlight disparities in the system and suggest areas for improvement in equity and efficiency within the healthcare referral process. To do so, a structured survey will be used. Since a construct is not needed to determine the waiting time or the forms of access, it was not necessary to validate the instrument. However, we did validate the understanding of the questions and the response options in several places in the country. According to the results of the validation of the instrument, pollsters will be instructed to inform users about the meaning of the question on ethnic identification, which was difficult to understand in the country's coastal areas.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.