THE EFFECT OF PATIENTS ATTENDANCE RATE ON THE CONSULTATION IN A HEALTH-CENTER IN SAUDI-ARABIA

An observational study in which patients attending a health centre in Riyadh during a typical working week were invited to participate was u ndertaken, in order to study the variability of patients' attendance r ates at a health centre and identify any association with the length a nd content of consultations. Four hundred and sixty females and 442 ma les representing 63% of patients seen during the study period agreed t o participate. There was an uneven patient attendance rate during the working hours of the study week with 10.16 consultations per doctor pe r hour in the evening compared with 5.58 in the morning. By internatio nal standards the average consultation time was short (5.09 minutes). Contrary to what was expected, the proportion of patients who had long consultation times (> 10 minutes) or were offered health education di d not increase during the light work periods. Long compared with short consultations were more likely to include health education issues but did not differ significantly in the rate of prescription, investigati on or referral. Recommendations as a result of the study include (i) s uggestions to spread the work evenly and (ii) performing assessment an d audit studies with the purpose of encouraging longer consultations a nd including health education more frequently.