title: [The efficiency of organizational measures in improving the management of the prior appointment program].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To estimate the organisational impact of the volume of appointments processed in the Primary Care (PC) Administration Units (AU) of Area 10, and to evaluate the effectiveness of organisational measures to correct the excess of appointments processed at particular times of day.
  
  
  METHODS
  Before-and-after intervention study.
  
  
  METHODS
  AU of 16 PC teams from Madrid's Area 10.
  
  
  METHODS
  All the appointments made for users by 78 clerks in the 16 AU in the Area during the two weeks of the study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Strengthening of administrative staff dealing with the appointment system; and an information campaign for users about the system.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The percentage of appointments processed by AU was broken down for morning and afternoon, by the way the appointment was made (telephone/counter) and by the scheduling of the list. The hourly development was analysed by a graph. A mean number of appointments per clerk per day was found. The above figures were compared for before and after intervention.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The work load caused by the appointment system was redistributed by internal organisational measures, since user habits did not alter.
authors.affiliation: Dirección de Atención Primaria Area 10, Madrid.
authors.forename: M I
authors.initials: MI
authors.lastname: Fernández San Martín
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Asenjo Arriero
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Fernández Redondo
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Martínez Ibáñez
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Molina Blázquez
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Moreno Camacho
mesh_terms: D001071:Appointments and Schedules; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D017598:Efficiency, Organizational / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015397:Program Evaluation / Q000379:methods; D013030:Spain; D013689:Telephone