Outpatient flow analysis and waiting time in a radiology department

To analyze outpatient flow in a radiology department to estimate outpatients waiting time for radiology services. This was a cross sectional study with the target population of all patients attending the radiology department of Shahid Hashemi Nejad Hospital in Tehran. In all data for 303 patients were analyzed. The average waiting time for entering plain X-ray room was 10. 87 minutes (SD=10. 86) and the average waiting time for entering special X-ray room was 62. 00 minutes (SD=53. 49). The most important factors for waiting time in radiology department were the type of service، and muliple entering. Analyzing the correlation of outpatient waiting time and their entrance showed a positive correlation with waiting time for plain X-ray services and a negative correlation with waiting time for special X-ray services (P=0. 001). The findings suggest that assessing wating time might help to schedule outpatient and appointment system more effectively.