Time spent during outpatient visits in family physician and referral system plan: Provider's perspectives

Objective (s): Outpatient care is one of the important parts of health system. The aim of this study was to assess time spent during outpatient visits by family physician and in the referral system plan. This was a cross–sectional study. The study population was main providers including family physician and midwives working for the referral system plan. Random sampling method was applied and time spent during outpatients visits was recorded as indicated by the study participants. In all 1814 physicians and 1803 midwives were studied. The study finding indicated that most physicians reported average of 5 to 10 minutes and midwives between 10 to 15 minutes time spent for their outpatient visits. About 45.3% of physicians and 21.8% of midwives believed that this was not enough time. The findings suggest that time spent in outpatient visits is not enough. It seems that a proper defined population for each family physician or referral center is an important step in improving visiting time.