Calman F, White L, Beckingham E, Deehan C
Department of Clinical Oncology, St Thomas' Hospital, Lambeth Palace Road, London SE1 7EH, UK.
Clin Oncol (R Coll Radiol). 2008 Mar;20(2):184-90. doi: 10.1016/j.clon.2007.11.006. Epub 2007 Dec 26.
To determine whether patients undergoing radiotherapy would choose to attend appointments for a course of treatment scheduled outside the normal working day and working week.
A survey of radiotherapy outpatients was conducted on two single days in late 2005 and early 2006. There were four departments in the first cohort and five in the second cohort. Departments were selected from across the UK and were chosen to reflect both city centre and out of town locations. Six of the nine departments were working extended hours at the time of the survey. The second cohort received a modified questionnaire that included two additional questions relating to appointments at weekends.
In total, 471 and 332 questionnaires were returned by the first and second cohorts, respectively. For all age groups, 9.00 am to 12.00 pm was the most preferred time for treatment. Outside the normal working day, the 8.00-9.00 am interval was the most selected, being chosen by 23.4% of respondents. Overall, 32.8% (n=260) of respondents would attend a reasonable appointment time outside the normal working day and 10.7% (n=85) were unsure. On Saturdays, 39.3% (n=130) would attend and 11.5% (n=38) were unsure. For Sundays, 31.1% (n=103) would attend and 10.9% (n=36) were unsure.
There is sufficient support from patients for attendance outside the normal working day to ensure appointment slots would not go unfilled during a moderate extension to the working day. However, the percentage of patients that would attend varied between departments. This demonstrates the need for local evaluation of patient preference before the introduction of extended working hours.
确定接受放射治疗的患者是否会选择参加在正常工作日和工作周之外安排的疗程预约。
在2005年末和2006年初的两个单日对放疗门诊患者进行了一项调查。第一组有四个科室，第二组有五个科室。这些科室从英国各地选取，旨在反映市中心和城外的地点。九个科室中有六个在调查时延长了工作时间。第二组收到了一份修改后的问卷，其中包括两个与周末预约有关的额外问题。
第一组和第二组分别共返回了471份和332份问卷。对于所有年龄组，上午9点至中午12点是最受欢迎的治疗时间。在正常工作日之外，上午8点至9点这个时间段被选择的最多，23.4%的受访者选择了这个时间段。总体而言，32.8%（n = 260）的受访者会在正常工作日之外参加合理的预约时间，10.7%（n = 85）不确定。在周六，39.3%（n = 130）会参加，11.5%（n = 38）不确定。对于周日，31.1%（n = 103）会参加，10.9%（n = 36）不确定。
患者对在正常工作日之外就诊有足够的支持，以确保在适度延长工作日期间预约时段不会无人使用。然而，愿意就诊的患者比例在不同科室之间有所不同。这表明在引入延长工作时间之前，需要对患者偏好进行本地评估。
