Researchers at the Mayo Clinic in Florida have found ways to ensure patients don’t waste what could be a health professional’s productive time by not being ready when they are called for their appointment.

They found 39% of patients at an academic primary care center were not ready to be evaluated at their scheduled appointment time and aimed to reduce this to 20% over three months.

A multidisciplinary quality improvement team used quality improvement tools and methodology to determine patient punctuality was a major modifiable factor contributing to the care gap. The scheduling process was changed to include a built-in 15-minute-early arrival for acute visits for a 2-week trial period. Based on the successful results, this was then applied to all appointment types for a 3-month trial.

Of the 182 patients seen during the 2-week trial period, 34 (19%) were not ready to be seen at the time of their appointment, a 20% improvement from baseline. A total of 2,832 patients were followed up for all visits during the next 3 months and 590 (21%) were not ready on time. Physician and patient satisfaction results also improved after the intervention, the researchers added.