A recent study in Pain Medication News examines the impact of patient punctuality on the management and outcomes of opioid therapy in outpatient pain clinics. It emphasizes the importance of using appointment times effectively for opioid education due to its complexity and how punctuality affects clinic efficiency, patient satisfaction, and medication compliance. With a significant number of adults in the U.S. requiring long-term opioid therapy, timely patient arrivals are crucial for effective pain management and minimizing opioid dependency risks. A retrospective review identified that patients arriving late had higher daily doses of opioids, suggesting a link between lateness and increased opioid prescriptions. In the setting of pain management, this finding highlights the need for strategies to improve punctuality to enhance pain management and reduce opioid misuse, pointing to the broader implications of appointment timing on health outcomes and clinic operations.
However, in other health care settings such as Dentistry, arrival time may be an important data point in overall assessment in determining patient reliability, risk of substance abuse, malingering, etc.