OPD
OUT PATIENT
DEPARTMENT
GNIOT Gr. Noida
Definition
OPD is defined as a part of the hospital with allotted physical facilities and medical and
other staffs, with regularly scheduled hours, to provide care for patients who are not
registered as inpatients.
A hospital department where patients receive diagnosis and/ or treatment but do not
stay overnight.
An OPD is structured as the primary point of communication between the patient and
the medical.
An outpatient is a person who gets care or treatment at the clinic or hospital only for a
few hours without getting hospitalised.
According to the Global Health Observatory, an outpatient department (OPD) is a
facility that manages clinical care for people who are not admitted to the hospital.
An OPD is a medical facility that provides medical consultations, diagnosis, and
treatment for patients without requiring admission.
OPD is a medical facility where patients receive medical treatment without being
admitted to the hospital. It is a section of a hospital or clinic where patients can
consult with doctors and receive medical care for a variety of illnesses and injuries.
The OPD is a crucial part of any medical facility, as it allows patients to receive timely
medical attention without the need for hospitalization. Patients can visit the OPD for
routine check-ups, follow-up appointments, and treatment for minor illnesses and
injuries.
Importance of OPD in Healthcare Systems
• An Outpatient Department is at the entrance of any hospital.
• It acts as the first place where the patients and doctors communicate.
• It is a crucial link between the patients and the healthcare system and is
hence inseparable. (cannot be separated)
• It is vital in preventing diseases and ensures fast recovery of the patient.
• It controls the number of patients in the inpatient ward by providing
small surgeries and treatments.
• It evaluates the patients, and only those who require a bed or special
care are shifted to the inpatient ward.
• Thus, saving the number of occupied beds.
• Generally, people that visit for the first time and have minor health are
treated in OPD.
• Doctors conduct tests, provide consultancy, and give prescriptions to
the patient in the OPD.
Objective of OPD
History of OPD
Function
Features of OPD
• The main features of OPD which significantly contribute to the
healthcare system operation are listed below:
It acts as the first point where the patient and the healthcare system
interact with each other.
It is the most important step in health promotion and vital in the
prevention of diseases.
The screening is done to find the illness and see whether the patient
needs admission to the hospital.
All patients can easily access the medical practitioners and get the
treatment done.
It facilitates vaccination, common illness, or minor surgeries.
Services Provided by the OPD
• Through the services provided in OPD, the hospital works for the smooth
functioning of the healthcare system.
• These services are classified as –
• Prevention-and-wellness
OPDs provide guidance to the patients for overall wellness and prevention
of health issues. Doctors guide patients to maintain a healthy weight,
improve sleep, balance sugar levels, etc.
• Diagnosis
OPD is the first place where the patient and doctor meet and discuss the
patient's health condition. After discussing the issue, the doctor suggests
the necessary tests for the patient. The lab tests and MRI scans are
conducted in the OPD.
• Treatment
Treatments and minor surgeries can be done in the outpatient department.
Modern OPD has all the necessary equipment to treat a patient. Surgeries
such as cuts, wounds, etc., can be easily handled in the modern OPD.
Types of OPD
Types of OPD
Types of OPD
OPD
TYPE OF OPD SERVICES
1. Ambulatory care is medical care provided on an outpatient
basis, including diagnosis, observation, consultation,
treatment, intervention, and rehabilitation services. This
care can include advanced medical technology and
procedures.
2. A polyclinic is a clinic that provides both general and
specialist examinations and treatments to outpatients and is
usually independent of a hospital.
3. A health center is one of a clinics staffed by a group of
general practitioners and nurses providing healthcare
services to people in a certain area. Typical services covered
are family practice and dental care.
4. A walk-in clinic
.
accept patients on a walk-in basis and with no appointment
required.
5. A day hospital
is an outpatient hospital facility where patients attend for
assessment, treatment or rehabilitation during the day and then
return home or spend the night at a different facility.
6.A dispensary
is an office in a school, hospital, industrial plant, or other
organization that dispenses medications, medical supplies, and in
some cases even medical and dental treatment. In a traditional
dispensary set-up, a pharmacist dispenses medication as per
prescription or order form.
Facilities of OPD
Benefits of OPD
• Although OPD is a general ward, it has many benefits compared to
the other hospital departments. Some of the benefits that increase
the importance of OPDs are –
1. Less-Expensive -
OPD helps saving money as the patient is not admitted and is not
required to pay for the bed.
2. Does-not-require-admission -
Patients that are treated in OPD do not require to be admitted
unless the condition doesn't improve. Treatment without admitting
saves patients from the stress of being admitted to the hospital.
3. Well-Equipped -
Nowadays, OPDs are well-equipped, and minor surgeries and
treatment can be provided in the OPD. Modern OPDs have all the
required equipment necessary for the initial diagnoses and
investigation of the ailment.
Benefits of OPD
1. Good-Service -
The quality of service provided at the OPD is good as the staff is well-trained.
Moreover, the patient can conduct a diagnosis and get consultancy from a doctor
at the same place.
2. Easy-Access -
People can easily access medical facilities and practitioners through the
outpatient department. Moreover, the outpatient department fees are very much
affordable.
3. Control-communicable-diseases -
The outpatient department plays a prominent role in controlling infectious
diseases. It is done through surveillance and tracing the common diseasing in
people with the help of data.
4. Research -
Data from the outpatient department is used for the research purpose. It is
crucial for the developments in the field of medicines and vaccines that may help
in the reduction of common diseases.
5. Practise-field -
OPD acts as the practice ground for the new doctors to learn medicine. It even
OPD Process Arrival at OPD
Reception
Registration
Issue of Token Number
Waiting Room
Investigations Consultation with Doctor
Issuance of med Chit
Referral to Spl
Arrival at Pharmacy
Token Number
Waiting
Collection of Med
Departure
OPD Planning
• OPD has functional and administrative links with
the hospital of which it is a part.
• It may also be linked with health centers, satellite
clinics, and dispensaries that are dependent on it.
• Expected demand should be determined based on
catchment area and population to be served.
• Should include curative, preventive, and
promotive health services
Design Consideration
Requirements for OPD
• Requirements for OPD
• Size: 1 sq feet per patient visit or 60 sq m per bed
• OPD: 12%-18% of hospital area.
• Entrance zone: 2 sq m per bed.
• Ambulatory zone (Clinical Area): 10 sq m per bed
• Diagnostic zone: 6 sq m per bed
• 60% of area should be for waiting and corridors
• Seats for 1/3 of daily attendance @ 8 sq ft/pt.
• Consultation room – 150 sq ft
• Attached examination room – 80 sq ft
Projection of Out-Patient Load
• For every hospital bed, 1.5 to 3 patients attend OPD
• 1-10 visits per capita per year of the dependent population
basis
Organogram of OPD
/CO
Organizational Components of OPD
.
.
Physical Facilities
Administrative Areas: Circulation Areas (30% of all
Admin Office area):
Business Office Corridors, Stairs, Lifts
House Keeping Easy Accessibility of elevator
Storage Facility Corridor- 1.8 m wide
Security Point
ATM Card Booth
(Post Acute Care)
Functional Zones
(Treadmill Test)
Problems at OPD
General Problems:
1. Insufficient number of doctors: It is found that there are a
significant large number of patients wait in front of the doctor
rooms. I it can be concluded that this is the bottleneck of the
process. This is mainly due to insufficient number of doctors to
serve as compared to the number of patients arrive the clinic.
2. Inappropriate appointment system: Appointment-patient has
no priority over non-appointment patient. Two types of patients
follow the same process. Therefore, appointment-patients are
likely to ignore their appointment time and tend to arrive the
clinic very early. This causes congestion in the clinic during the
beginning of the day. Moreover, there is no formal appointment
system in place. There is no time slot information to guarantee
the availability of doctors on the appointment day.
3. Long waiting time at Medicine room: After patients receive the
prescription from the clinic counter, patients are directed to
medicine room to pay for the fee and receive the medicines.
According to our observation, patients currently spend significant
amount of time at the medicine room counter. Most of which is
waiting for medicine.
4. Shortage of facilities.
5. Insufficient training of medical personnel concerning
ambulatory care.
6. Fragmentation of care, poor communication and inadequate
understanding of their demands.
7. An organizational structure geared to traditional preferences
and needs of the providers.
8. Resistance to change.
Specific Problems:
9. Duties undertaken by the auxiliaries are carried out hurriedly
in order to keep pace with consultation of doctors.
This creates inappropriate documentation.
10. Auxiliary staffs sometimes misbehave with the patients.
11. In absence of appointment system, patients start accumulating
even before office time starts; creating a long queue of patients
even before arrival of doctors.
12. Absence of visible serial number of appointment.
13. Interruption of consultation or investigation.
14. Lack of privacy.
15. Advices are not clearly spelled out.
16. Illegible hand-writing of the doctors.
17. Poly-pharmacy.
18. Prescription of too much antibiotics.
19. Queues are not properly maintained.
20. Prescribed medicines are not always available at pharmacy.
21. Use of trade-name of medicines by the doctors, create
confusion to patients, when different-named medicines of same
genera is supplied to the patients.
22. No clear advice about when, how and how long to take the
medicines.
23. Sometimes, wrong medicines are given by the pharmacists.
24. Insufficient and un-cleaned toilets.
25. Undue influence of local political leaders.
HOW TO DEAL WITH LONG WAITING TIME
Normal Queue System
• Make queue attractive.
• Make waiting-lines bent, so that they don’t see a long
line of queue always ahead of them. Give them hope.
• Keep provision of visible token-number; so that one
can predict his turn of appointment.
• People always remember the last part of service. So
provide a satisfying consultation.
Single queue, and multiple servers model
Multiple queues, and multiple servers model
Suggestions for managing queues
• Determine an acceptable waiting time for customer.
• Try divert customer’s attention when waiting.
• Inform customers of what to expect.
• Keep employees not serving the customers out-of-sight.
• Train servers to be friendly.
• Encourage customers to come during slack period.
• Identify the bottle-neck in the service delivery and take
remedial measures.
Records at OPD
