Abstract
Objectives: To determine waiting time for patients attending medical outdoor clinic and to identifying the expectations of patients and their level of satisfaction with the waiting time.
Methods: All patients reporting to medical outdoor clinic were included, whereas those presenting in medical emergency reception were excluded. Time of reporting to the clinic and the time at which they entered the clinic for consultation were recorded separately. After exiting from clinic, they were asked to voluntarily answer open and close ended questions on a specially designed questionnaire.
Results: A total of 1407 patients having an age of 50.76± 16.51 years were included. Number of patients seen each day was 35.18± 10.90. Median waiting time was 68 minutes, which increased with the number of patients seen daily. However, the day of the week did not add statistically significantly to the prediction (p=0.144). Only 118 patients provided feedback, 80.51% of whom were re-visitors. Median anticipated waiting time was 60 minutes. Most of them (87.29%) were satisfied with the waiting time and the time given for consultation.
Conclusion: There is a very little difference between actual and anticipated waiting times, which reflects as a high frequency of satisfaction amongst the patients attending this clinic.

Key words: Health care quality, patient satisfaction, outpatient care, access to health care