Schedules for our nephrology clinics will be published here. First published schedule is posted on 19 October 2008. We hope the blog will help in coordinating our nephrology clinics in Sabah.
Most of the consultation clinics are in Kota Kinabalu. The nephrologists also travel regularly to various districts in Sabah to run visiting clinics (See the calendar).
Each regular follow-up case (old case) is allocated a 15-minute slot of consultation time while 2 slots (30 minutes) are usually spent for a new case. Typically a full session of clinic will run for 3 hours (e.g. 9am to 12pm) or 12 slots. Therefore one doctor in one clinic session is expected to attend to 12 old cases, or, 10 old cases plus one new case etc.
The meaning of one clinic slot is well defined: 15 minutes, one doctor. Ideally, the definition should include one nurse, one consultation room. Unfortunately, like many other MOH hospitals in Malaysia, this is still far from ideal due to shortage of staff and rooms. Yes, we are still running clinic where two doctors and two patients (sometimes plus family members) squeeze in one consultation room, and at the same time, one nurse attending to all tasks.
We emphasize this time allocation because this will ensure all patients receive equal attention. From experience, we realize that rushing through a congested clinic will compromise the care of the patients.
Almost all regular follow-up patients will have their blood taken for renal function tests and sometimes urine tests prior to the appointment. More sophisticated investigations maybe needed depends on the condition. We are following scheduled appointment system and patients are advised to register half an hour prior to their scheduled time. We aim to attend to all patient no later than 30 minutes of their scheduled appointment time. We hope that all our patients spend less than two hours for their clinic visit. However, other factors may prolong the clinic visit such as need of repeat blood tests, waiting for radiology investigations and queuing for prescription.
Doctors are reminded to fully responsible for the 12 clinic slots of the day. If the doctor in-charge is planning for leave or meeting, two-weeks notice is needed in advance in order to re-schedule all the 12 clinic slots. For unexpected emergency reason, he or she should try to get a replacement, or, as a last resort, postpone the clinic session to another day.
We hope that we can have a well organized nephrology clinic system. Our aim, of course is to make sure a pleasant clinic for both the patients and health care workers because we believe this is the best way to ensure effective clinic consultation, communication and treatment.
