Li Wang

This study aimed to identify the effect of waiting time on patient satisfaction and the relationship between different types of waiting time. The questionnaire contained 2 parts. The first part included questions about expected waiting time (EWT), reasonable waiting time, tolerance waiting time, and basic personal information. The second part included perceived waiting time (PWT) and satisfaction evaluation. The actual waiting time (AWT) was recorded by the worker. Linear regression was used to analyze the influence of waiting time on satisfaction. Before data collection, this study was approved by the hospital’s health ethics committee. In total, 323 questionnaires were collected, of which 292 (90.4%) were valid. The EWT, tolerance waiting time, rational waiting time, and PWT had a significant effect on patient satisfaction (P = .006, P = .043, P = .009, P = .000), whereas AWT had no significant effect on satisfaction (P = .365). The difference between the EWT and AWT had a significant effect on satisfaction (P = .000), while the difference between the PWT and AWT had a significant effect on satisfaction (P = .000). Age, educational background, gender, appointment, and hospital visit experience had no significant effect on patient satisfaction (P = .105, P = .443, P = .260, P = .352, P = .461, respectively). Patient satisfaction with waiting time was not directly affected by AWT, but by subjective waiting times. Furthermore, objective waiting time affects patient satisfaction through the subjective waiting time. Therefore, hospital managers can improve service quality by focusing on adjusting a patient’s subjective waiting time while reducing the objective waiting time.

Background: Long waiting time in hospital leads to patient’s low satisfaction. In addition to reducing the actual waiting time (AWT), we can also improve satisfaction by adjusting the expected waiting time (EWT). Then how much can the EWT be adjusted to attribute a higher satisfaction?Methods: This study was conducted though experimental with hypothetical scenarios. A total of 303 patients who were treated by the same doctor from August 2021 to April 2022 voluntarily participated in this study. The patients were randomly divided into six groups: a control group (n = 52) and five experimental groups (n = 245). In the control group, the patients were asked their satisfaction degree regarding a communicated EWT (T₀) and AWT (T_a) under a hypothetical situation. In the experimental groups, in addition to the same T₀and T_aas the control group, the patients were also asked about their satisfaction degree with the extended communicated EWT (T₁). Patients in five experimental groups were given T₁values with 70, 80, 90, 100, and 110 min respectively. Patients in both control and experiment groups were asked to indicate their initial EWT, after given unfavorable information (UI) in a hypothetical situation, the experiment groups were asked to indicate their extended EWT. Each participant only participated in filling out one hypothetical scenario. 297 valid hypothetical scenarios were obtained from the 303 hypothetical scenarios given.Results: The experimental groups had significant differences between the initial indicated EWT and extended indicated EWT under the effect of UI (20 [10, 30] vs. 30 [10, 50],Z= -4.086,P < 0.001). There was no significant difference in gender, age, education level and hospital visit history (χ² = 3.198,P = 0.270;χ² = 2.177,P = 0.903;χ² = 3.988,P = 0.678;χ² = 3.979,P = 0.264) in extended indicated EWT. As for patient’s satisfaction, compared with the control group, significant differences were found when T₁ = 80 min (χ² = 13.511,P = 0.004), T₁ = 90 min (χ² = 12.207,P = 0.007) and T₁ = 100 min (χ² = 12.941,P = 0.005). When T₁ = 90 min, which is equal to the T_a, 69.4% (34/49) of the patients felt “very satisfied”, this proportion is not only significantly higher than that of the control group (34/ 49 vs. 19/52,χ² = 10.916,P = 0.001), but also the highest among all groups. When T₁ = 100 min (10 min longer than T_a), 62.5% (30/48) of the patients felt “very satisfied”, it is significantly higher than that of the control group (30/ 48 vs. 19/52,χ² = 6.732,P = 0.009). When T₁ = 80 min (10 min shorter than T_a), 64.8% (35/54) of the patients felt “satisfied”, it is significantly higher than that of the control group (35/ 54 vs. 17/52,χ² = 10.938,P = 0.001). However, no significant difference was found when T₁ = 70 min (χ² = 7.747,P = 0.052) and T₁ = 110 min (χ² = 4.382,P = 0.223).Conclusions: Providing UI prompts can extend the EWT. When the extended EWT is closer to the AWT, the patient’s satisfaction level can be improved higher. Therefore, medical institutions can adjust the EWT of patient’s through UI release according to the AWT of hospitals to improve patient’s satisfaction.

Background Long waiting time in hospital leads to patients’ low satisfaction. In addition to reducing the actual waiting time (AWT), we can also improve satisfaction by adjusting the expected waiting time (EWT). Then, what degree should medical institutions adjust patients' EWT to in order to improve patient’s satisfaction more effectively? Methods A total of 303 patients who were treated by the same doctor from August 2021 to April 2022 voluntarily participated in this study. The patients were randomly divided into six groups: a control group (n = 45) and five experimental groups (n = 252). Each group answered different questionnaires to explore the impact of different degrees of EWT extension on patient’s satisfaction. Each participant only participated in filling out one questionnaire. 297 valid questionnaires were obtained from the 303 questionnaires given. Results The experimental groups had significant differences between the initial EWT (T₀) and extended EWT (T₁) under the effect of unfavorable information (20.0 [10.0, 30.0] vs. 30.0 [10.0, 50.0], Z = -4.086, P < 0.001). There was no significant difference between sex, age, education level and hospital visit history (χ² = 3.198, P = 0.270; χ² = 2.177, P = 0.903; χ² = 3.988, P = 0.678; χ² = 3.979, P = 0.264) in extended EWT (T₁). Compared with the control group, significant differences were found in patient’s satisfaction when T₁ = 80 min (χ² = 13.511, P = 0.004), T₁ = 90 min (χ² = 12.207, P = 0.007) and T₁ = 100 min (χ² = 12.941, P = 0.005). However, no significant difference was found when T₁ = 70 min (χ² = 7.747, P = 0.052) and T₁ = 110 min (χ² = 4.382, P = 0.223). When T₁ = 90 min (T₁ = T_a), 69.4% (34/49) of the individuals felt “very satisfied”. This proportion is not only significantly higher than that of the control group (34/ 49 vs. 19/52, χ² = 10.916, P = 0.001), but also the highest among all groups. Conclusions Providing unfavorable information prompts can extend the EWT, but the extension needs to be based on the actual number of patients. Only when the extended EWT is close to the AWT can the patients’ satisfaction level be remarkably improved. Therefore, medical institutions can adjust the EWT of patient’s through information release according to the AWT of hospitals to improve patient’s satisfaction.