BOOKS OF RtfiDIfGS - PAHO/WHO

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- A major problem with such a system would be the lead-time
for trar.sferring information from the desks to the appointment
processing. During this time, the appointment availability file
will not be up to date. This would cause some inefficiency in the
appointment processing area's ability to reschedule and coordinate
multiple apl, intments.
The ideal situation would be to have the appointment
availability file updated ;tmmediately from the desk. This feature
necessitates some kind oi mcchanized information transmission.
This mechanized transmission could be accomplished by using
teletypewriters or some other telecommunication device at the
desk to transfer information to the appointment processing area.
In addition to the speed with which information would be
transmitted, this system would have the advantage of being able
to generate typewritten copies of the appointment information at
the appointment processing area directly from the desks immediately
after the appointment is made. This capability would
eliminate the need for filling out and sending a pregistration
form, since all the necessary. information could be sent via the
teletype. Further stiidy could be made to determine the feasibility
and desirability _f .e;iding other types of information, such as
requests for charts and X-ray, ~ the same manner to other clinic
areas.
Once a mechanized information transmission device is in operation,
the major system bottleneck would be in the time necessary
to manually update the files. This problem could be solved
by mechanizing the updating procedures using some computer
configuration.
Once the appointment information system is mechanized, the
next step would be to incorporate other patient-related information,
such as billing, which could be accessed easily from the
proper places. Thus, this appointment information system could
be the foundation of a complete communications-based information
system.
An advantage of this implementation scheme is that, at each
step, improvements are made in the patient flow system. Also,
each of these steps ser -s as a transition and learning period for
the next. Further, if, at any step in the implementation scheme,
HOSPITAL & HEALTH SERVICES ADMINISTRATION 1 WINTER 1978