From the table we can see that 61.4% of the patients who find a seat said that the seat are comfortable, however 19.3% of these patients said that the seats are not comfortable. On the other hand 14% of the patients did not answer the question as it is not applicable to them, that is because they don’t get a seat when they go to the practice, so they can not tell whether the seats are comfortable or not.
Do patients’ views on the comfort of the seats vary according to how long they had to wait?
Hypothesis:
H0:
There is no association between the comfort of the seats and the waiting time the patients have to wait.
H1:
There is an association between the comfort of the seats and the waiting time the patients have to wait.
Testing at 5% Level (0.05)
Number of columns= 6
Number of rows=4
Degree of Freedom= (No of rows-1)* (No of columns-1)
(4-1)*(6-1) = 15 Degree of freedom= 15
The value of chi- Square test is 83.505. The degree of freedom is 15. The value of chi square is greater than the value from the table for 15 df, the value of the table= (X2 0.05, 2df= 25.00). The difference is very significant at the 5% level and we do have to reject H0. It is likely that there is an association between the comfort of the seats and the waiting time the patients have to wait.
For those patients who had to wait, what parentage received an apology?
The number of patients who had to wait was 19. From those 19 patients, we are going to investigate the percentage of those who received an apology for their waiting time and the percentage of those that did not.
The results from the table show that the number of patients who received an apology is not promising and can be an alert that should be considered by the practice. Out of the 19 patients who had to wait only 47.7% of them received any apology for their waiting. The percentage is not significant and indicates that more communication should be taken between the staff and the patients to keep them informed and to give them an apology when required. However the percentage of patients who did not received an apology for their waiting is 31.6%. This percentage can be seen as a problem to be worried off in the mean time.
Looking at the graph we can see that most of the patients who had to wait received an apology for their waiting. They represent almost 50% of the patients who had to wait. However the number of patients who did not receive an apology for their waiting is quite large. Some actions should be taken to overcome this problem. There are a few numbers of patients who don not know if they received an apology or not. The question that should be addressed why these patients don not know if they received an apology or not.
Does the time a patient had to wait vary according to whom they visited the dentist or the dental hygienist?
H0:
There is no association between the time a patient had to wait and who is going to visit, the dentist or the dental hygienist.
H1:
There is association between the time a patient had to wait and who is going to visit, the dentist or the dental hygienist.
From the table we can see that 26 of the patients who visited the dentist are seen early or on time. They represent 65% of the patients who visited the dentist. However the number of patients who visited the dental hygienist and are seen early or on time is 10. They represent 62.5% of the patients who visited the dental hygienist.
Number of columns= 6
Number of rows=4
Degree of Freedom= (No of rows-1)* (No of columns-1)
(6-1)*(2-1) = 5 Degree of freedom= 5
The value of chi square is 4.120. It is less than the value from the table
(X2 0.05, 5df= 11.07) The differences are not significant at the 5% level and we do not reject H0. It is likely that there is no association between the time a patient had to wait and who is going to visit, the dentist or the dental hygienist.
.
Compare the age of patients for those who had to wait 10 minutes or less with the age of those who had to wait more than 10 minutes.
Hypothesis:
H0: There is no association between the age of the patients who had to wait 10 minutes or less with the age of those who had to wait more than 10 minutes.
H1: There is association between the age of the patients who had to wait 10 minutes or less with the age of those who had to wait more than 10 minutes.
Looking at the table we can see that the age of patients who waited more than 10 minutes is above the age of 44. However the age of the patients who waited 10 minutes or less is between the age of 17- 44.
The degree of freedom will be rounded to the nearest 10, because the degree of freedom 74 is not present at the chi-square distribution table. Taking 70 as the df. The value of chi square is 80.399. It is less than the value from the table(X2 0.05, 5df= 90.53). The differences are not significant at the 5% level and we do not reject H0. It is likely there is no association between the age of the patients who had to wait 10 minutes or less with the age of those who had to wait more than 10 minutes.
Investigation if there is as association between the gender of the patient and the cleanliness of the waiting room.
Hypothesise: Testing level at 5%
H0:
There is no association between the gender of the patients and the cleanliness of the waiting room.
H1:
There is association between the gender of the patients and the cleanliness of the waiting room.
Looking at the table we can see that 24 of the males rated the waiting room as clean or very clean. They represent 77.4% of the males who answered this question. However 12 females rated the waiting room as clean or very clean. They represent 48% of the total females who participated on answering this question. We can see that there is a big difference between the males and the females regarding their views on the cleanliness of the waiting room, but it does not necessary means that there is an association between the gender and the cleanliness of the waiting room.
Number of columns= 6
Number of rows=4
Degree of Freedom= (No of rows-1)* (No of columns-1)
(2-1)*(5-1) = 4 Degree of freedom= 4
The value of chi square is 6.353. It is less than the value from the table for 8 df (X2 0.05, 4df= 15.51). The differences are not significant at the 5% level and we do not reject H0.It is likely that there is no association between the gender of the patients and the cleanliness of the waiting room.
Describe the frequency of usage of the facilities in the waiting room.
From the table, we can see that only 42.6% of the patients used the magazines facilities out of the total patients who used the other facilities. The percentage is not high for the usage of magazines facilities. This should be investigated and considered, in order to increase the number of patients who use the magazines facilities while waiting in the room.
Looking at the bar chart we can see most of the patients did not use the magazines facilities. The percentage of patients who did not use the magazines facilities is 57%. That could be because most of the magazines are not up-to date, or maybe the patients are not familiar with these magazines.
From the table we can see that the percentage of the patients that used the newspaper facilities is 70.2%, out of the whole patients who used the other faculties.
Looking at the graph we can conclude that there is very high percentages of patients who like to read newspapers while their waiting to see the dentist. This might explain why lot of patients do not use the magazines facilities, as lot of them prefer to read newspaper rather than magazines.
Describe the frequency of usage of the facilities in the waiting room.
The usage of the drink machines was very low, as only 17% of the patients used it out of the whole patients who used the other facilities. The percentage of patients who did not use the drink machine is very significant, as it represents 83% of the whole patients who used the other facilities.
From the graph we can clearly see the big difference between the percentages of patients who used the drink machines and the percentages of who did not use it.
The percentage of patients who used the toilet is very low. Only 8.5% of the patients used the toilet out f the whole patients who used the other facilities.
Most of the patients who used the facilities did not use the toilet facilities. The percentage of patients who did not use the toilet is very significant. It represents 91.5% out of the whole patients who used the other facilities.
What conclusion can be drawn from patients’ comments in questions eleven and twelve on the questionnaire?
Improving the quality and the number of chairs was the main demand for most of the patients. In addition, adding new up to date magazines share the same percentage of demand by the patients. Nearly 31% of the patients wanted the quality of the chairs to be improved and to add more magazines in the waiting room. Some other patients requested some entertainment books or toys for children, also some patients requested an introduction of lift facilities. However the main request of the patients was to improve the quality of chairs and to add more magazines.
The majority of patients had a great concern of the heating problem in the waiting room. 60% of the patients who added comments suggested that the centre heating should be on as the waiting room is quite cold. Furthermore 20% of the patients who added their comments wanted an apology and explanation for their waiting.
Suggestions on how the questionnaire could be improved if a similar survey was to be conducting in the future.
The objective of any questionnaire is to obtain the maximum response rate to draw a better conclusion. There are few suggestions that can be used in order to improve if a similar survey was to be conducting.
Some of these suggestions are:
- Avoid using open ended questions when asking about the age. Some people do not like to give their exact age so they will leave the answer blank. It is recommended to use closed format question when trying to obtain the age of the client. The ages can be grouped into intervals of 5 and the client can be given the option to tick the appropriate box from different ranges of ages which match with his or her age. This will help to increase the response and break the barriers of people not willing to reveal their ages.
- The question which asks about the facilities the patients use should be simplified or broken down into four variables. Instead of asking which facilities did you use, it is better to address them by asking did you use the magazines facilities as a separate question. This will help us to draw a better conclusion of the exact facilities that have been used while the patients are waiting in the room. Rather than us assuming if the patient ticked only one option then that does not means he or she did not use the other facilities.
Conclusion:
In conclusion, the practice does not have a problem with lengthy waiting time. Almost 65% of the patients who answered the question regarding their waiting time said they are seen early or on time .However, about 30% of the patients had problem on waiting 10 minutes or more. This could be a concern as it is likely to have an impact on the patients’ satisfaction. The main finding in this report is that there is an association between the comfort of the seats and the waiting time the patients have to wait. The chairs are recommended to be changed and placed with better quality ones. The average age of patients is 47 years. The ages of the patients should be taken in consideration and more attention should be given as the mean age is quite large. Ensuring the conformabilities of the chairs and reducing the waiting time is a key element to gain the patients’ contentment. The research found that there is no association between the gender of the patients and the cleanliness of the waiting room. However 26% of the patients said that the room is very dirty or dirty, out of the whole patients who were asked about the cleanliness of the room. This figure is not magnificent but it should be outlined clearly for the practice. It is recommended to improve the cleanliness of the room, as it might put off a lot of patients from visiting this practice for hygiene reasons. The research undertaken discovered that almost 71% of patients have used the newspaper(s) facilities. It is suggested to put out more newspapers in the waiting room. Finally, almost 30% of patients who added their comments wanted to see more chairs with better quality. A large number of patients complained about a central heating problem in the room. Almost 60% of the patients who added their comments revealed that the waiting room is cold. An urgent action should be taken for the health and safety of the patients who wait in the waiting room.
Appendices:
Variable View
This slide shows all the variables that have been created including the new ones which have been created by recoding existing variables.
Summary Statistics
Box and Whiskey Diagram for the Age of the patients
Ages
Frequency tables