How to use OPD timings effectively.

How to use OPD timings effectively.

 

OPD(Outpatient department) is an important time where doctors meet non-emergency patients. Here patients’ time and doctors’ time is equally important. In India where almost everyone has their own opd clinic even though they are working in some hospital. Here are a few tips and tricks which may help you for smooth function of OPD and can manage many patients within a short time.

 

1.Appointment through phone: Every OPD clinic should have a special landline or mobile number in order to book an appointment. Many times doctors delays or prepone his OPD depending upon his/her working conditions or personal commitment.  If you give an appointment number to a patient it is easy to communicate with the receptionist and patients and give timings as per availability of doctors. By doing this doctors need not to wait for patients and vice versa.

 

2.Weight measurements: Weight measurements are important in pediatrics as well as adults because depending upon the patient Weight medication differs. So Weight measurements are done outside the consultation room by an assistant.  This will save nearly 30-40 mins of your daily OPD timings. In this time you can see an extra 10 patients daily. 

 

3.BP , Pulse and SPo2 measurements: All these measurements should be done by an assistant and outside the consultation room. It will save nearly 1 hour if your OPD time is  daily. 

 

4.Chronic Diseases and Co morbidities: Chronic diseases like hypertension, Diabetes, hypothyroid,  and Co morbidities like old cases of cardiac patients,  stroke patients,  history of any surgery in the past. All these short histories can be recorded by an assistant outside the consultation room. 

 

5.Keeping old reports along with a consultation file: If a patient has old reports then the receptionist or opd assistant should keep all reports along with the opd file which will save time. In many cases we need CT scan or MRI reports rather than films.

 

6.Switch off or atleast silence your phone:

Receptionist or OPD assistant should request patients and their attenders to switch off or silent your mobile phone. 

 

6.Give numbering to all rooms: Numbering of rooms helps to save time and make our work easier. Like 1 for reception,  2 – consultation room, 3- pharmacy,  4- Lab. Like this you can do numbers to wash rooms which make life easy. You can give a number according to your clinic.

 

7.Use of Intercom: Intercom saves time and makes life easier. Even though outdated but must be needed for a clinic or hospital. By using this system we can contact anyone at their work place like lab technician,  pharmacist,  receptionist and convey our message very fast.

 

8.Washbasin in consultation room: After examination consultants need to wash his hands so it is very easy if it is inside the consultation room. It should typically be in between the doctor’s chair and patient examination table. 

 

9.Keeping all the important instruments and important items on the table: Instruments like sphygmomanometer,  thermometer,  stethoscope,  Pulse oximeter, knee hammer, measuring tape, goniometer and many more. Keeping at least two pens in a pen stand is mandatory. Water bottle, tissue paper box, examination gloves box should be on the table. 

 

10.Explaining how to take medication:   If you got a trained pharmacist who has good knowledge then let him discuss how to take medication,  but in small clinics many are untrained then doctors can explain how to take it and write it down with marker.

 

These are the few tips which I found it useful to share. These tips and just to make life easy.

 

If you like this blog comment below.

 

Dr Saad Mohammed Athanikar.

MBBS, DNB(Ortho), MNAMS, FAGE.