Reducing patient wait times in a head and neck cancer outpatient clinic: A pilot study

Objectives 1) Identify causes of increased patient wait times in a high‐volume outpatient cancer clinic; and 2) use quality improvement tools to implement changes to reduce patient wait times. Methods Baseline patient wait times for 10 faculty members in the Department of Head and Neck Surgery at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (Houston, TX) outpatient head and neck cancer clinic were calculated. Patient workflow and scheduling processes were recorded and analyzed. The faculty with the lowest patient wait times was interviewed, and best practices were identified. Two physicians piloted interventions. Clinic templates were standardized and load‐leveled, and the total patients scheduled per hour was based on the physician's calculated capacity per hour. Paired t tests were used to analyze data, and P values