Al-Haqwi Ali I, Al-Shehri Ali M
Department of Family & Community Medicine, King Abdulaziz Medical City, King Fahd National Guard Hospital, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
J Family Community Med. 2007 Sep;14(3):99-102.
The appointment system in primary care is widely used in developed countries, but there seems to be a problem with its use in Saudi Arabia.
(1) To explore opinions and satisfaction of consumers and providers of care in Primary Health Care regarding walk-in and the introduction of the appointment system. (2) To examine factors which may affect commitment to an appointment system in PHC.
Two hundred sixty (260) consumers above the age of 15 years as well as seventy (70) members of staff were randomly selected from 10 Primary Health Care Clinics in the National Guard Housing Area, Riyadh and asked to complete a structured questionnaire designed to meet the study's objectives.
The majority of consumers and providers of care were in favour of introducing appointments despite their satisfaction with the existing walk-in sysem. Respondents saw many advantages in the appointment system in PHC such as time saving, reduction of crowds in the clinics and guarantee of a time slot. The main perceived disadvantage was the limitation of accessibility to patients especially with acute conditions. The main organizational advantages and disadvantages perceived by providers were related to follow-ups of chronic patients, no shows and late arrivals. The majority of the patients preferred appointments in the afternoon and the possibility of obtaining an appointment over the telephone.
In this study, both consumers and providers supportted the idea of introducing the appointment mixed system in primary care, but further study is required.
初级医疗保健中的预约系统在发达国家被广泛使用，但在沙特阿拉伯的使用似乎存在问题。
（1）探讨初级卫生保健中消费者和医疗服务提供者对即时就诊和预约系统引入的看法及满意度。（2）研究可能影响初级卫生保健中对预约系统接受程度的因素。
从利雅得国民警卫队住宅区的10家初级卫生保健诊所中随机抽取260名15岁以上的消费者以及70名工作人员，要求他们填写一份为实现研究目标而设计的结构化问卷。
尽管大多数消费者和医疗服务提供者对现有的即时就诊系统感到满意，但他们还是赞成引入预约系统。受访者认为初级卫生保健中的预约系统有诸多优点，比如节省时间、减少诊所内的拥挤程度以及保证就诊时段。主要的明显缺点是患者尤其是急症患者获得就诊机会受限。医疗服务提供者认为的主要组织方面的优点和缺点与慢性病患者的随访、爽约和迟到有关。大多数患者更喜欢下午的预约以及通过电话预约的可能性。
在本研究中，消费者和医疗服务提供者都支持在初级医疗保健中引入预约混合系统的想法，但还需要进一步研究。
