Open AccessPerformance of health providers in primary health care services in Jordan
Author(s) -
Khoury Sa,
Salah Mawajdeh
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
eastern mediterranean health journal/eastern mediterranean health journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.442
H-Index - 47
eISSN - 1687-1634
pISSN - 1020-3397
DOI - 10.26719/2004.10.3.372
Subject(s) - primary health care , primary care , health care , health services , medline , medicine , family medicine , nursing , environmental health , economic growth , political science , population , law , economics
The study analysed time utilization by a sample of 111 physicians, nurses and midwives in 62 primary health care facilities in Jordan. The providers’ activity over each shift was coded at 3-minute intervals using an activity sampling technique and patient-provider contact times were recorded. Overall, health providers spent the nearly half their time [48.7%] as down time’ [waiting, breaks and non-work related activities], with 29.1% as clinical activities and 22.1% as non-clinical work-related activities. Physicians had higher clinical and down times than nurses and midwives; waiting for patients accounted for half the down time. The mean physician-patient contact time was 3.08 minutes. An appointment system is recommended to reduce down times for health providers and increase consultation times