Online referral and immediate appointment selection system empowers families and improves access to public community paediatric clinics.
Ambulatory Care Facilities
/ statistics & numerical data
Appointments and Schedules
Australia
Child
Child, Preschool
Community Health Services
/ organization & administration
Cost Savings
Cost-Benefit Analysis
Delivery of Health Care
/ organization & administration
Female
Hospitals, Pediatric
Humans
Internet
/ statistics & numerical data
Male
Outcome Assessment, Health Care
Program Development
Program Evaluation
Referral and Consultation
/ organization & administration
Time Factors
appointments and schedules
internet
online systems
paediatrics
parents
referral and consultation
Journal
Journal of paediatrics and child health
ISSN: 1440-1754
Titre abrégé: J Paediatr Child Health
Pays: Australia
ID NLM: 9005421
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
Apr 2019
Apr 2019
Historique:
received:
21
02
2018
revised:
30
06
2018
accepted:
27
08
2018
pubmed:
22
9
2018
medline:
21
10
2020
entrez:
22
9
2018
Statut:
ppublish
Résumé
We aimed to introduce a low-cost combined online referral and immediate appointment selection system (CORIAS) to empower referrers and parents by allowing them to schedule an appointment at a time and location of their choosing in conjunction with the referrer at the time of referral. This was because an unacceptably high rate of reported lost referrals, combined with a high rate of failure to attend initial appointments (FTAs), was noted at a six-site community paediatric clinic service. We aimed to analyse the impact of CORIAS on important outcomes including timely appointment scheduling, attendance, loss of referrals, user acceptance, overall cost and administrative burden. For 3-month periods before and after the implementation of CORIAS, data were collected regarding all new referrals received and initial appointments scheduled, as well as reports of lost referrals. The number of attended initial appointments, FTAs, failures in successfully scheduling appointments, referrer background, CORIAS cost and qualitative feedback received from relevant parties was collated and analysed. The proportion of referrals reported lost was 6% following the implementation of the combined online system in comparison to 17% pre-implementation. The FTA rate for scheduled initial appointments pre-implementation was 16%; post-implementation, the FTA rate was 9%. Qualitative benefits included a decrease in the administrative burden associated with appointment scheduling and increased service access for culturally and linguistically diverse families. Appropriately designed and implemented novel online systems may improve timely and equitable access to health care by providing secure, reliable pathways for referrers and by empowering and improving communication with patients and families.
Types de publication
Journal Article
Langues
eng
Sous-ensembles de citation
IM
Pagination
454-458Informations de copyright
© 2018 Paediatrics and Child Health Division (The Royal Australasian College of Physicians).