Mrs. Manumbu's wait: a case for reducing client waiting time
Family planning manager 1(1 Suppl): 1-2
1992
ISSN/ISBN: 1060-9172 PMID: 12318473 Document Number: 341772
Management Sciences for Health has published a case study on reducing client waiting time, case discussion questions, and a case analysis for training and group discussion for family planning (FP) managers. A married mother of 3 children carries her 5-week-old son as she walks for 1 hour on a hot day to a FP clinic. She wants to learn how to prevent another birth too soon. After registering, she joins at least 35 other women and children under a tree. She sits next to a good friend who has been waiting for 2 hours. They listen to another woman who tells about waiting for 3 hours only to be told she needed to return the following day because too many people wanted to visit the physician. The woman adds that she just wanted a new supply of oral contraceptives. The long walk to the clinic was not the problem, leaving her children alone by themselves was the problem. The new client begins to be concerned about waiting for 3 hours while her children are also home alone; plus, she had chores to do. The case discussion questions ask participants how the waiting time can discourage the new client from using FP, what the clinic can do to ameliorate the situation, and what programs and policies can reduce long client waits. Some solutions to improving the waiting situation include providing transportation, appointments, and fast routes for resupplying contraceptives as well as analyzing client flow and implementing the findings. Mid- and senior-level managers could begin a community-based service delivery program in villages, support a triage policy, and implement higher level training for nurses to perform more medical functions.