Assessment of patients waiting and service times in the ophthalmology clinic of a public tertiary hospital in Nigeria

Introduction

Long waiting time in the out-patient clinic is a major cause of dissatisfaction in Eye care services. This study aimed to assess patients' waiting and service times in the out-patient Ophthalmology clinic of UITH.

Methods

This was a descriptive cross-sectional study conducted in March and April 2019. A multi-staged sampling technique was used. A timing chart was used to record the time in and out of each service station. An experiencebased exit survey form was used to assess patients' experience at the clinic. The frequency and mean of variables were generated. Student t-test and Pearson's correlation were used to establish the association and relationship between the total clinic, service, waiting, and clinic arrival times. Ethical approval was granted by the Ethical Review Board of the UITH.

Result

Two hundred and twenty-six patients were sampled. The mean total waiting time was 180.3± 84.3 minutes, while the mean total service time was 63.3±52.0 minutes. Patient's average total clinic time was 243.7±93.6 minutes. Patients' total clinic time was determined by the patients' clinic status and clinic arrival time. Majority of the patients (46.5%) described the time spent in the clinic as long but more than half (53.0%) expressed satisfaction at the total time spent at the clinic.

Conclusion

Patients' clinic and waiting times were long, however, patients expressed satisfaction with the clinic times.

Funding

Self-funded

Thermomechanical Stability of Carbyne-Based Nanodevices

An approach is developed to predict stability of carbyne-based nanodevices. Within this approach, the thermo-fluctuation model of instability and break of contact bond in nanodevices, containing carbyne chains and graphene sheets, is offered. Unlike the conventional models, it does not include empirical constants. The results of DFT calculations are used as initial data for this model. Possibility of synergistic effect of temperature and mechanical load on stability and value of service time of carbyne-based nanodevices is predicted. It is ascertained, that this synergism results in a significant (by many orders of magnitude) decrease in the lifetime of nanodevices containing carbyne chains. The atomic mechanism of this phenomenon is outlined. Conditions of thermo-force loading are predicted at which a service time of these devices is sufficient for applications.

Generalizable items of quantitative and qualitative cornerstones for personnel requirement of physicians in anesthesia

Anesthesiologists perform a broad spectrum of tasks. However, in many countries, there is no legal basis for personnel staffing of physicians in anesthesia. Also, the German diagnosis related groups system for refunding does not deliver such a basis. Thus, in 2006 a new calculation base for the personnel requirement that included an Excel calculation sheet was introduced by the German Board of Anesthesiologists (BDA) and the German Society of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine (DGAI), and updated in 2009 and 2015. Oriented primarily to organizational needs, in 2015, BDA/DGAI defined quantitative and qualitative cornerstones for personnel requirement of physicians in anesthesia, especially reflecting recent laws governing physician’s working conditions and competence in the field of anesthesia, as well as demands of strengthened legal rights of patients, patient care and safety. We present a workload-oriented model, integrating core working hours, shift work or standby duty, quality of care, efficiency of processes, legal, educational, controlling, local, organizational and economic aspects for calculating personnel demands. Auxiliary tables enable physicians to calculate personnel demands due to differing employee workload, non-patient oriented tasks and reimbursement of full-equivalents due to parental leave, prohibition of employment, or long-term illness. After 10 years of experience with the first calculation tool, we report the generalizable key aspects and items of a necessary calculation tool which may help physicians to justify realistic workload-oriented personnel staffing demands in anesthesia. A modular, flexible nature of a calculation tool should allow adaption to the respective legal and organizational demands of different countries.