When patients are making requests to have a procedure on a certain day of the week how should you adjust the schedule in block booking? In our office we keep a uniform number of block available for each day of the week so a look at the wait time by each day of the week shows that there is a longer wait for Thursday and Friday appointments. In the case below, the procedure is for one office to have wisdom teeth out (the data was pulled for appx 2,600 patients over a two year period). The average time waited was 26 days but it varied from a low of 23 days for Monday and Tuesday to a high of 32 days for Friday. This is consistent with the anecdotal observation that patients prefer Fridays (two recover over the weekend) and are willing to wait for it.
Because this day of week variation doesn't happen for consultation appointments our office will increase surgical blocks late in the week and hold more consultative blocks early on. Since the wait is 40% longer for a Friday appointment compared to a Monday appointment 40% more blocks will be reserved for Fridays.
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Hello!
Currently I'm recruiting bloggers who would be interested in participating in a blogging panel at the Medicine 2.0 Congress taking place in Toronto (this September, 4-5th). It would be the Medical Bloggers' Panel.
If you are interested; please contact me by e-mail (berci.mesko at gmail.com).
Thank you in advance!
Berci Meskó
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