Wait Time and Service Satisfaction at the Outpatient Clinic of a Nigerian Psychiatric Hospital.

Background: In February 2006, Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Aro, Abeokuta launched the local charter of SERVICOM and promised the clients timely and quality services delivered with fairness, honesty, courtesy, and transparency. Implementation of this promise is yet to be evaluated. Objectives: To determine the wait time and service satisfaction of the patients attending the outpatient clinic of the Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Aro, Abeokuta. Methods: In this cross sectional study, wait time at each of the clinic’s service points and the transit wait time between them were recorded for all the patients who attended the clinic in the third week of July 2008. Patient’s satisfaction questionnaire was administered on a sub-sample. Results: Four hundred and fifty-two patients participated. The mean total wait time (from arrival at the medical record to exit from the clinic) was 181 minutes (SD = 34.8 min, minimum = 30min, maximum = 228 min). The mean transit wait time was 48.43 minutes. More than 80% of the subjects strongly agreed that the clinic services were transparent, timely, fair, effective and with courtesy. However, only 40.6% strongly agreed that the services were affordable. Conclusion: The range of the total wait time was too wide, with some patients spending more than 7 times the amount of time spent by others. A quarter of total wait time was spent on queuing or transiting between service points. There is need to optimize the flow map at the clinic and to set goal for maximum acceptable wait time at each service point. Keywords: Wait Time, Satisfaction, Outpatient, Psychiatry. Declaration of Interest: Research grant was received from the Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Aro, Abeokuta.