Long-waiting outpatients: target audience for health education.

The study examines the meaning of waiting time in an outpatient department. Attention is payed to the activities of the patients and companions during the waiting time, the potential for health education programmes during the waiting time and the form such a health education programme should take. The setting was the King Khalid University Hospital Outpatient Department, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The study sample was selected by a systematic random sample approach of one in every 10 patients or companions visiting the clinic in a period of 2 weeks. The results showed an average waiting time of 148 min with a standard deviation of 11 min. Patients currently engage in reading, sleeping or talking during long waiting time. However, they showed a preference for health education programmes for specific diseases such as heart disease, diabetes mellitus and bowel diseases during the waiting time. Leaflets were favoured to be the most preferred mode for disseminating such information. A sizeable proportion of patients also wanted religious programmes included. We conclude that education programmes for preferred specific health topics at outpatient clinic services would be of potential benefit to patients' overall health.