Caracteristicas de las personas que acuden a las consultas de demanda del centro de salud sin citación previa Translated title: Characteristis of those individuals requesting to be seen by a physician without first having made an appointment ahead of time

Abstract

FUNDAMENTO: El tiempo de espera para acceder a la consulta está considerado un indicador de satisfacción. Las visitas no urgentes, realizadas sin cita previa, provocan un incremento del tiempo de espera de los pacientes citados, con la consiguiente insatisfacción de los mismos. El objetivo del estudio persigue la valoración cuantitativa de este tipo de visitas y conocer las características de las mismas, para introducir las medidas destinadas a su corrección y racionalización. MÉTODOS: Estudio descriptivo. Se realizó un registro que recogiera las características de los pacientes que originan las consultas sin cita previa, como la edad y el sexo y las relativas a la consulta: motivo, modalidad, jornada laboral y si era realizada de forma directa o indirecta. RESULTADOS: El 14,19% de consultas a demanda no urgentes son sin citación previa. Con el análisis factorial de correspondencias múltiple se identifican dos perfiles de consultas: las directas, solicitadas por pacientes jóvenes, por enfermedad o tareas burocráticas, al final de la consulta de la mañana, estando ellos presentes, y las consultas indirectas, ocasionadas durante las consultas con cita previa por pacientes que solicitan recetas. CONCLUSIONES: Hay un elevado número de visitas sin cita previa. Son precisas medidas que puedan conducir a la utilización del sistema de organización de las consultas y a la mejora de aquellas situaciones que impliquen una falta de accesibilidad, con la finalidad última de mejorar la satisfacción de los usuarios de los servicios sanitarios públicos.

Translated abstract

BACKGROUND: Waiting time to see a physician is considered to be an indicator of user satisfaction. Non-emergency visits made without an appointment ahead of time result in longer waiting times for the patients who have appointments, resulting in the consequent insatisfaction thereof. The purpose of this study is aimed at conducting a quantitative assessment of this type of visits and at ascertaining the characteristics thereof for the purpose of putting measures into practice for the correction and rationalization thereof. METHODS: Descriptive study. A record was made which would gather the characteristics of those patients seeing physicians without having made an appointment, such as age, gender and the characteristics related to the visit (reason, modality, working hours and whether made directly or indirectly). RESULTS: No appointment had been made ahead of time for 14.19% of all non-emergency patient-requested visits. Based on the factorial analysis of multiple correlations, two visit profiles are identified, that is, the direct visits requested by young patients due to illness or red tape at the end of the physician’s morning hours, said young patients being present, and the indirect visits during the visits for which appointments have been made ahead of time by patients requesting prescriptions. CONCLUSIONS: There are a large number of visits for which no appointment has been made ahead of time. Measures must be taken for the purpose of channeling the use of the appointment organization system and of improving those situations involving a lack of accessibility for the end purpose of improving the degree of satisfaction of those using the public health care services.