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International Journal for Quality in Health Care 6:179-186 (1994)
© 1994 International Society for Quality in Health Care

Client Flow Analysis: A Practical Management Technique for Outpatient Clinic Settings

PAMELA FENNEY LYNAM, Assistant Director*, TAMARA SMITH, Programme Manager{dagger} and JOSEPH DWYER, Director{ddagger}

* Special Programmes, Africa Region, Association for Voluntary Surgical Contraception (AVSC) Africa Region, AVSC New York
{dagger}Africa Region, AVSC New York
{ddagger}Africa Region, AVSC

Client flow analysis (CFA) is a practical technique to help address one of the most frequently cited causes of patient disquiet with quality of health services—waiting times. It allows clinic managers and workers to look at the way that clients and patients move through the clinic. It gives information on waiting times, time spent in contact with different service providers, bottleneck areas in services and staff utilization patterns. It is a technique which is simple, quickly performed, cost effective, easy to learn and easily transferrable. This paper gives two illustrative examples of sites where CFA has been initiated in Africa—a free-standing family planning clinic and a provincial hospital outpatient clinic. Waiting times were reduced by over one-half and by one-third, respectively. By reducing waiting times for clients and patients and addressing some of the problems of staff time allocation, the quality of clinic operations can be improved for both providers and clients.

Keywords: Quality of care, waiting times, staff ultilization, clinic management, outpatient management, client flow, patient flow, family planning, Africa, developing countries

Correspondence: Dr Pamela Lynam, AVSC, Africa Regional Office, P.O. Box 57964, Nairobi, Kenya.

Received for publication December 20, 1993. Accepted for publication February 1, 1994.


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