[The efficiency of organizational measures in improving the management of the prior appointment program].
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.
Fernández San Martín
M I
MI
Dirección de Atención Primaria Area 10, Madrid.
Asenjo Arriero
M
M
Fernández Redondo
E
E
Martínez Ibáñez
M
M
Molina Blázquez
G
G
Moreno Camacho
A
A
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