The Impact of Waiting Time and Education Level on Outpatient Satisfaction: Meta-Analysis

Stefani Clara Alverina (Master’s Program in Public Health, Universitas Sebelas Maret, Surakarta, Indonesia)
Noor Alis Setiyadi (Faculty of Health Sciences, Universitas Muhammadiyah Surakarta, Surakarta, Indonesia)
Eti Poncorini Pamungkasari (Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Sebelas Maret, Surakarta, Indonesia)

Journal of Health Policy and Management
Vol. 11 No. 1 (2026)

Background: Patient satisfaction is a primary focus in the delivery of health care services. Assess­ment of patient satisfaction has been widely conducted worldwide and serves as an important tool for identifying service gaps and developing effective strategies to improve quality within the health care industry. Various factors influence patient satisfaction, including waiting time and educational level. This study aimed to analyze the effects of waiting time and educational level on outpatient satisfaction. Subjects and Method: This study employed a systematic review and meta-analysis using the PICO framework. The population consisted of outpatient clinic patients. The interventions were long waiting times and higher educational levels. The comparisons were short waiting time and lower educational level. The outcome was patient satisfaction. Data were obtained from Google Scholar, ScienceDirect, Elsevier, SpringerLink, Wiley, Scopus, and PubMed databases, covering publications from 2018 to 2023. The keywords used were “patient satisfaction” AND “waiting time” AND “short waiting time” AND “long waiting time” AND “educational level” AND “outpatient department”. A total of 13 articles met the inclusion criteria, which were full-text articles using a cross-sectional design, outpatient subjects, and reporting outcomes in the form of odds ratios. Article selection followed the PRISMA flowchart, and data analysis was performed using Review Manager version 5.4. Results: The 13 included studies involved a total of 25,017 participants from Ethiopia, Fiji, Pakistan, South Africa, and Serbia. The pooled analysis showed that patients experiencing long waiting times had 0.18 times lower satisfaction compared to those with short waiting times (aOR = 0.18; 95% CI= 0.06 to 0.49; p <0.001). In addition, patients with higher educational levels had 1.02 times higher satisfaction compared to those with lower educational levels, although this association was not statistically significant (aOR = 1.02; 95% CI= 0.34 to 3.02; p = 0.980). Conclusion: Shorter waiting times are associated with higher patient satisfaction in outpatient clinics. Higher educational level shows a positive but non-significant association with patient satisfaction.