A Qualitative and Quantitative Study on Patients Online Registration System
Abstract:
This work reviews an already published work by adding more details in regard to the methodological design. The details on the undergone qualitative and quantitative study are further explained in this paper. This study attempts to measure the level of satisfaction among patients towards the old-fashioned Traditional Queuing Method (TQM) compared with the proposed Online Registration System (ORS), and to investigate the patients’ perceptions of ORS and the feasibility and acceptance of the Registration and Admission (R&A) staff. A mixed methods study was held at the Ministry of National Guard Health Affairs (MNGHA) hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. At first, a stratified random sampling technique was used to distribute 385 structured questionnaires among outpatients anonymously in the outpatient registration area to gather indicating information and perspectives. Then, eleven face-to-face semi-structured interviews with front line hospital workers in the R&A department was managed using a thematic content analysis approach to analyze the contents and produce results. In order for the researcher to have a direct understanding of the registration processes and activities and to gain a better understanding of the patients’ behaviors and attitudes toward them; a non-participant observation approach was conducted where observational encounter notes were taken and then analyzed using a thematic content analysis approach. In general, this study found that most outpatient population (patients and registration staff) prefer ORS for a range of reasons including time consumption, cost benefit, patient comfort, data sensitivity, effortless, easiness, accuracy, and less errors. On the other hand, around 10% of them chose to go on with the TQM. Their reasons ranged from the unavailability of computer devices or internet connections to their educational backgrounds or physical disabilities. Computing devices and internet availability proved not to be an issue for the successful implementation of the ORS system, as most participants consented to having an internet connection or a device to enter ORS system (91%). Last, as more than the half of participated patients were unhappy with the TQM at registration desks (59.7%), this dissatisfaction should be addressed by an ORS implementation that would reduce waiting times, enhance the level of attention, and improve services from frontline staff toward patients’ care.
