Development of an Outpatient Nursing Service System in the Medical Outpatient Department on Patient Satisfaction, Waiting Times, and Nursing Staff Satisfaction

Abstract

This research employed a quasi-experimental design with the objectives of developing an outpatient nursing service system in the internal medicine department, comparing patient satisfaction and waiting times between experimental and control groups, and studying the level of satisfaction of nurses and staff with the outpatient nursing service system in the internal medicine department. The sample consisted of: 1) 100 outpatients using the internal medicine department, divided into experimental and control groups of 50 each, selected using purposive sampling; and 2) 20 nursing staff members in the outpatient internal medicine department. The research instruments included a service time recording form, a patient satisfaction questionnaire, and a satisfaction questionnaire for outpatient nursing staff in the internal medicine department. The quality of the research instruments was verified. Based on the evaluation by 3 experts, the CVI (Content Validity Index) for the outpatient nursing service user satisfaction questionnaire was 0.92, and for the staff satisfaction questionnaire, it was 0.88. The reliability coefficient for the outpatient nursing service user satisfaction questionnaire was 0.90, and for the staff satisfaction questionnaire, it was 0.82. The statistical methods used for data analysis included descriptive statistics and an independent t-test, with a statistical significance level of .05. The research results showed that: 1) The developed outpatient nursing service system for the internal medicine department consists of three phases: (1) the pre-examination phase, which includes workload assessment and personnel allocation, communicating information to service users, assigning responsibility for preparation and setting guidelines; (2) the in-examination phase, which includes assigning additional responsible personnel, dividing appointment slots, and scheduling patient appointments; and (3) the post-examination phase, which includes the appointment system and the use of digital technology for scheduling appointments. 2) The satisfaction of outpatient nursing service users in the experimental group was significantly higher than in the control group at the p < .05 level. 3) The overall waiting time for services in the experimental group was significantly shorter than in the control group at the p < .05 level (t = 16.11, p = .000). And 4) The satisfaction of personnel with the use of the outpatient nursing service system for the internal medicine department was at a high level overall.