It is more efficient to type: innovative self-registration and appointment self-arrival system improves the patient reception process.
BACKGROUND
In 2010, we introduced an express sexually transmitted infection/HIV testing service at a large metropolitan sexual health clinic, which significantly increased clinical service capacity. However, it also increased reception staff workload and caused backlogs of patients waiting to register or check in for appointments. We therefore implemented a new electronic self-registration and appointment self-arrival system in March 2012 to increase administrative efficiency and reduce waiting time for patients.


METHODS
We compared the median processing time overall and for each step of the registration and arrival process as well as the completeness of patient contact information recorded, in a 1-week period before and after the redesign of the registration system. χ2 Test and rank sum tests were used.


RESULTS
Before the redesign, the median processing time was 8.33 minutes (interquartile range [IQR], 6.82-15.43), decreasing by 30% to 5.83 minutes (IQR, 4.75-7.42) when the new electronic self-registration and appointment self-arrival system was introduced (P < 0.001). The largest gain in efficiency was in the time taken to prepare the medical record for the clinician, reducing from a median of 5.31 minutes (IQR, 4.02-8.29) to 0.57 minutes (IQR, 0.38-1) in the 2 periods. Before implementation, 20% of patients provided a postal address and 31% an e-mail address, increasing to 60% and 70% post redesign, respectively (P < 0.001).


CONCLUSIONS
Our evaluation shows that an electronic patient self-registration and appointment self-arrival system can improve clinic efficiency and save patient time. Systems like this one could be used by any outpatient service with large patient volumes as an integrated part of the electronic patient management system or as a standalone feature.
From the *Sydney Sexual Health Centre, South East Sydney Local Health District, Sydney Australia; †The Kirby Institute, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia; and ‡School of Public Health and Community Medicine, University of NSW, Kensington, NSW, Australia.
Vickie
V
Knight
Rebecca J
RJ
Guy
Wand
W
Handan
Heng
H
Lu
Anna
A
McNulty
D000554:Ambulatory Care Facilities / Q000458:organization & administration*; D001071:Appointments and Schedules; D001315:Australia; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D005260:Female; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D034121:Reproductive Health Services / Q000191:economics / Q000458:organization & administration*; D057566:Self Report; D013997:Time Factors; D014850:Waiting Lists; D016526:Workload