UT Southwestern Student-Run Free Clinic: Reducing Patient Wait Time

Meghana Gogineni; Milan Ho; Nora Gimpel

Meghana Gogineni University of Texas at Southwestern Medical School https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0646-4925
Milan Ho University of Texas at Southwestern Medical School https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0766-7786
Nora Gimpel, MD University of Texas at Southwestern Medical Center Department of Family and Community Medicine

Abstract

Agape Multidisciplinary (Agape MD) is a student-run free clinic partnership between UT Southwestern and the Agape Clinic serving patients in Dallas, Texas. As medical student clinic managers, we noticed lengthy wait times for patients. After tracking wait time over 6 months, we report patient wait times for each component of the visit and used root cause analysis to identify strategies for and obstacles to reducing wait time. Based on this analysis, we plan to stagger appointment times, streamline intake and check-out times, and recruit more faculty members to support our patient volume.

Author Biographies

Meghana Gogineni, University of Texas at Southwestern Medical School

After earning her bachelors degree in Neuroscience at the University of Texas at Austin, Meghana Gogineni is currently a second year medical student at the University of Texas at Southwestern Medical School. Her research interests include comunity health, preventative care, quality improvement, and palliative care.

Milan Ho, University of Texas at Southwestern Medical School

Milan (Lyndie) Ho is currently a second year medical student at the University of Texas at Southwestern Medical School.

Nora Gimpel, MD, University of Texas at Southwestern Medical Center Department of Family and Community Medicine

Nora Gimpel, MD is a Professor and the Vice Chair of Community Health in the Department of Family Medicine at UT Southwestern Medical Center. Dr. Gimpel earned her medical degree at the University of Buenos Aires School of Medicine and performed her residency in family medicine at the Center of Medical Studies and Clinical Research in Buenos Aires. In addition to her departmental roles, she serves on the board of the Society of Student-Run Free Clinics and on the board of the North Texas Alliance to Reduce Teen Pregnancy.

Dr. Gimpel’s work focuses on community-based participatory research (CBPR). She has mentored numerous pre- and postdoctoral students in CBPR principles, training them to create innovative research models and culturally appropriate approaches to care for the underserved. She has published several academic articles and delivered scores of international, national, and regional presentations on CBPR and topics related to community medicine. She is a member of several professional organizations, including the Dallas County Medical Society, the North American Primary Care Research Group, the American Academy of Family Physicians, the Society of Teachers in Family Medicine, and Alpha Omega Alpha. She also works with numerous community service organizations in the Dallas Fort Worth area.