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Research » Recent Publications:
Research Areas • Recent Publications
How Much Time Do Patients Spend on Outpatient Visits? The American Time Use Survey
Louise B. Russell, Yoko Ibuka and Deborah Carr
The Patient
2008 |
Background: In Crossing the Quality Chasm, the Institute of Medicine recommended that patient-centered care should not waste patients’ time and should
recognize the involvement of family and friends. Studies have documented the
time spent by physicians on outpatient visits, but not that spent by patients and
their companions. The patient’s perspective provides an important yet overlooked
indicator of healthcare effectiveness.
Objective: To document how much time American patients spend on outpatient visits, for what purposes (travel, waiting, receiving services), and the time
required of family members and friends.
Methods: We used data from the first 4 years (2003–6) of the American Time Use Survey (ATUS), conducted by the US Census Bureau for the Bureau of Labor
Statistics, which asks respondents about their activities over a 24-hour period.
ATUS is a nationally representative population-based survey that samples days
continuously throughout the year. In 2003–6, 60 674 respondents aged 15 years
were randomly selected from households that completed the Current Population
Survey; 1621 reported seeking medical care for themselves on their survey day.
We documented the percentage of the population that reported outpatient visits,
the percentage who were accompanied to those visits and by whom, and the mean
time spent by patients and their companions, by type of activity, and by age and
sex.
Results: After weighting the data to represent the US population, we found that
3.4% of people aged 15 years reported traveling, waiting, or receiving services in
connection with an outpatient visit on their survey day. The mean time for those
who reported the activity was 35 minutes for travel (95% CI 33, 37), 42 minutes of
waiting (95% CI 37, 47), and 74 minutes receiving services (95% CI 70, 79).
Overall, 39.5% were accompanied, usually by family members. Companions
spent a mean of 124 minutes per encounter (95% CI 112, 135). Nearly half of
those aged 65 years were accompanied, almost always by adults only, suggesting
that they may have needed help with transportation, negotiating the healthcare
system, or performing cognitive and emotional tasks involved in receiving care.
Conclusion: Outpatient visits are time intensive for American patients and their
families: the equivalent of 207 million 40-hour work-weeks each year. Patients
and their families spend substantially more time on outpatient visits than the time
with the physician reported by the annual National Ambulatory Medical Care
Survey. Further research is needed on the components of outpatient visits that do
not directly involve physicians. Efforts to improve care should address waiting
times and recognize the involvement of family members. The ATUS could
provide periodic benchmarks of patient time use as a supplement to other
indicators of patient-centered care in the annual National Healthcare Quality
Report.
Louise B. Russell, Yoko Ibuka and Deborah Carr. "How Much Time Do Patients
Spend on Outpatient Visits? The American Time Use Survey," The Patient, Volume 1: 211-222, 2008.
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