Background:Hospitals have expressed no knowledge of patients’ opinions regarding diversified appointment registration systems, despite efforts to develop novel appointment registration systems that assist patients and increase hospital efficiency. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the use of diversified appointment registration systems and explore the factors influencing patients’ registration system choices.Methods:A survey study using a questionnaire was conducted in West China Hospital in February 2012. Outpatients were randomly selected from different hospital departments and the questionnaire was distributed and collected on-site.Results:Data from 1,009 patients were available for analysis. Of these, 63.4% used appointment systems to register while others chose a traditional queuing method to register. 114 telephone (30.4%) and on-site (22.9%) appointments were made, whereas other systems were less used by patients. Between the non-appointment and appointment groups there were significant differences in gender, educational degree, and residence location (P < 0.05), but no significant difference in age (P > 0.05). While the clinical appointment system had the greatest number of appointment days (25.75), the bank's self-service terminal appointment had the least number of appointment days (5.05). Leaflets sent from the hospital (50.70%) and the recommendations of friends or families (40.77%) were the two main ways of knowing about the appointment registration systems. With the exception of those who felt no need to make an appointment (30.12%), not having the capability to use the appointment systems (24.10%) and the lack of a registered health card (34.53%) were the two main reasons for not using appointment registration systems.Conclusions:Convenience was a major motivation for patients’ use of appointment registration systems. Personal knowledge and capability were the two important factors that influenced patients’ appointment system choices. Hospitals must improve the design and promotion of appointment registration systems to better facilitate their use.

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ORIGINAL ARTICLEresults, but fewer (84%) were satisfied with the communication processes surrounding day surgery. Conclusion:Patients exhibited high acceptance and satisfaction regarding day surgery. The convenience experienced by patients and their families is the main perceived value of day surgery. Nevertheless, during the recovery process patients are concerned about possible adverse events, treatment of postoperative complications, and lack of information. These aspects of care delivery warrant improvement through redesign of the day surgery service.

Abstract. The objective of this paper is to study the conditions of perceived value, trust and willingness to medical treatment of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) service, and to explore the influence of perceived value and trust on medical treatment intention. The data were collected by questionnaire survey, using reference sampling and convenience sampling, and the data were analyzed by SPSS. 97.33 percent of respondents received TCM service, traditional Chinese medicine treatment was given priority to, the ratio as high as 85%, acupuncture, massage and cupping project; the public trust of TCM evaluation score for 4.16 (maximum 5 points) at a high level; perceived function value, economic value and time value of TCM were 3.84, 3.42 and 3.09 in medium level; perceived function value (b = 0.398, P = 0.000), perceived time value (b = 0.319, P = 0.000) and perceived economic value (b = 0.173, P = 0.000) have a positive effect on their willingness to medical treatment. Chinese public have a higher degree accept to TCM, but the service utilization is unbalance; public have high trust in TCM, but the perceived value has no obvious advantage; perceived value and trust have positive impact on intention to accept TCM.