Relationship between Outpatients’ Visit Time and Physicians’ Prescription Quality in Teaching Hospitals of Ahvaz: 2015

BACKGROUND: Examination time is a key factor determining the relative value of clinical physicians’ examination and care quality. Whereas commitment ‎to standard prescription principles by physicians increases the likelihood of proper treatment, its effectiveness and patients’ improvement. This study aimed to determine the relationship between outpatients’ examination time and physicians prescribing quality in teaching hospitals of Ahvaz.

METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted in 550 outpatients who visited teaching hospitals of Ahvaz in 2015. The quality of the prescriptions was assessed by WHO checklist. Each prescription was scored with a score range from 0 to 21, they were divided into four equal score categories including low (0–5.25), low intermediate (5.26–10.5), high intermediate (10.5–15.75) and good (15.76–21) and using correlation and regression was analyzed.

RESULTS: The total mean of examination time and commitment to prescription principles was 4.88±0.12 min and 15.92±1.14, respectively. Correlation coefficients between outpatients’ examination time and dimensions of “legibility”, “pharmaceutical form” and “medical orders”, and the total quality of prescription were significant (p˂0.005). The relationship between examination time and prescription quality confirmed with the fitting linear regression model. Increase per minute in patient’s examination by a physician, which is about 0.33 points, was added to the basic quality scores of prescription.

CONCLUSION: There was a relationship between Examination time and dimensions of legibility, pharmaceutical form, and medical order. Considering commitment ‎to standard prescription principles, examination time, which was declared by the Health Sector Evolution Guideline, improve physicians’ prescription quality and quality of provided services of hospitals. Therefore, providing an internet schedule for examination will be extremely helpful in organizing physicians’ examination.