A system study on the General Outpatient Department of a Laguna-based public hospital

• Main Authors: Caguimbal, Mikkah Sam B., Montañez, Arvie Lyn A.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2017
• Subjects: Public hospitals > Philippines > Laguna; Public hospitals > Outpatient services > Philippines > Laguna; Hospitals > Outpatient services > Philippines > Laguna
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_bachelors/9811
• Institution: De La Salle University

Outpatient departments are considered as the windows of a hospital since it is usually the first contact point of a hospital and a patient. Service quality in the OPD leaves a huge impression on patients and due to this reason, it is important that health care facilities ensure the best quality of care is delivered in the OPD. To examine this, a public government hospital was chosen to conduct a systems study. It is located in Laguna and opened in the year 2004. The objective of the hospital is to deliver quality health care services to the masses within Laguna and its other neighboring places. The system of the OPD, specifically the general medicine service was the focus of the study because most patients seeks service from general medicine where they ask for a check-up or consult about their conditions. The researchers gathered data and observed in the OPD for one week and using WOT-SURG it was identified that the main problem affecting the quality of service of the OPD is the long waiting time of patients. The average waiting time was 1.83 hours which deviated by 79.88 minutes from the standard waiting time of 30 minutes set by the IOM. The factors associated with the long waiting time were identified using the Ishikawa diagram which are the documentation process, facility, doctors & nurses, and as well as the patients. To provide solutions to the identified problems, the musts and needs of the Laguna-based public hospital and alternatives per problem were formulated and assess using the Kepner Trego decision analysis method. The results of KTDA analysis generated the following proposed solutions: EMR implementation with barcoded IDs, hiring a reliever doctor and posting print-out reminders about the patients.