Patient-Centered Outpatient Process Optimization System Based on Intelligent Guidance in a Large Tertiary Hospital in China: Implementation Report

Background: In large tertiary hospitals across China, outpatient patients often encounter the "three longs and one short" (long registration time, long waiting time, long time for medicine collection, and short time for medical treatment) phenomenon. This scenario contributes to suboptimal patient experiences and declining satisfaction with health care services. To address the issue of long waiting times, many hospitals in China have implemented a range of measures. However, these measures have only improved individual aspects of the patient experience, with limited overall impact. Currently, there is a lack of comprehensive, intelligent reform for the entire patient service process in the medical system. Therefore, there is an urgent need to integrate and optimize the entire patient service process, providing real-time intelligent guidance within hospitals. This would help reduce waiting times for patients and enhance their satisfaction. Objective: This study aims to introduce a patient-centered intelligent guidance system and report on the impact of its implementation on outpatient waiting times and patient satisfaction in hospitals. Methods: The intelligent guidance system was designed with a patient-centered approach, leveraging internet and big data technologies. The system seamlessly connects various steps of the outpatient medical process, facilitating functions including automated check-in and comprehensive intelligent guidance for patients' medical visits, thus enhancing the efficiency and quality of health care delivery. This system has been implemented in a tertiary hospital in China. To assess the system's effectiveness, we compared outpatient visit data, waiting time data, and patient satisfaction levels between the preimplementation and postimplementation periods from 2019 to 2022. We analyzed the changes in patients' average waiting times and satisfaction levels after the system was implemented. Results: One year after the introduction of the intelligent guidance system, the number of outpatient visits increased from 5,067,958 to 5,456,151. The waiting time for outpatient patients was significantly reduced. The waiting time for consultation decreased by 2.84 minutes (mean 41.14, SD 2.31 min vs mean 38.30, SD 1.89 min; P<.001). The waiting time for examination decreased by 3.35 minutes (mean 47.83, SD 1.10 min vs mean 44.48, SD 1.67 min; P<.001). Consultation time increased to 3.43 minutes (mean 2.85, SD 0.03 min vs mean 3.43, SD 0.26 min; P<.001). After the system was launched, patient satisfaction increased from 89.99% (SD 2.78%) in 2021 to 92.72% (SD 0.18%) in 2022 (P=.005). Conclusions: The patient-centered intelligent guidance system reported in this study proved beneficial for tertiary medical institutions striving to alleviate the outpatient burden caused by prolonged waiting times. Through continuous transformation and upgrading of the outpatient service process centered on patients, the efficiency of outpatient services and patient satisfaction improved. Therefore, the patient-centered principle method and process integration concepts for the system can be further promoted and implemented.