Waiting time and absenteeism in the secondary care: a challenge for universal health systems

ABSTRACT

The study aimed to analyze the waiting time for specialized consultations and examinations in the twenty municipalities that compose the Metropolitan Health Region of Espírito Santo State (RSM-ES), Brazil. It is a retrospective and descriptive study was carried out based on the analysis of the Database of the State Health Department of Espírito Santo (Sesa). A total of 1,002,719 referrals from users residing in the RSM-ES were considered for specialized consultations/exams outside the municipality from January 2014 to December 2016, which corresponds to all schedulings. The average waiting time for the consultation was 419 days (standard deviation = 29.34, median = 17.00) in 2014, 687 days (standard deviation = 70.51, median = 16.00) in 2015, 1077 days (standard deviation = 140.26, median = 20.00) in 2016, progressive increase in waiting over the years. The correlation analyses of the study indicate that waiting time and municipal size are factors that can influence absenteeism in specialized consultations and examinations. The impact of absenteeism on outpatient services, influenced by waiting time, constitutes a major challenge for the structuring of a public health system in Brazil. Knowing how certain factors impact the behavior of non-attendance to appointments scheduled in municipalities can substantiate changes in scheduling policies for specialized consultations/examinations.

KEYWORDS
Waiting lists; Health services accessibility; Health services; Secondary care