Factors Affecting Outpatient Consultation Length among Specialists in Tabriz, Iran

Sufficient length of consultations is of utmost importance for improving the quality of care and establishing a good physician-patient relationship. Multiple factors affecting outpatient consultation length were investigated among Sheikh Al-Raisi specialists. Sheikh Al-Raisi is a general medical institute in Tabriz, in 2018.

This study was a cross-sectional and performed at a specialty clinic in Tabriz. In order to select the samples, random sampling was used. The consultations of 400 patients with 18 specialists were analyzed. Length of Consultation and demographics of patients and physicians were collected in the year 2018. Checklists were used to collect the data and a multiple regression analysis was applied to investigate the association of the variables with consultation length.

The mean and standard deviation consultation time was 6.9 and 2.6 min. In the multivariate model, the consultation time was longer for female patients. Lengthy consultation time was recorded in patients with bachelor's degrees or higher levels of education. The consultation time was longer in patients with gynecology problems (mean = 9.1) compared to those with other problems. In addition, older and female physicians provided longer consultation.

Clinical consultation time in specialists’ practice is estimated as short and is associated with the characteristics of the patients and the doctors and the types of their specialty. The results can be applied to make specialty consultation more effective, which can ultimately result in the delivery of the most optimum consultation period for each and every patient.