Waiting times, patient flow, and occupancy density in South African primary health care clinics: implications for infection prevention and control

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:sec><jats:title>Background</jats:title><jats:p>Transmission of respiratory pathogens, such as <jats:italic>Mycobacterium tuberculosis</jats:italic> and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, is more likely during close, prolonged contact and when sharing a poorly ventilated space. In clinics in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) and Western Cape (WC), South Africa, we estimated clinic visit duration, time spent indoors and outdoors, and occupancy density of waiting rooms.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Methods</jats:title><jats:p>We used unique barcodes to track attendees’ movements in 11 clinics in two provinces, multiple imputation to estimate missing arrival and departure times, and mixed-effects linear regression to examine associations with visit duration.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results</jats:title><jats:p>2,903 attendees were included. Median visit duration was 2 hours 36 minutes (interquartile range [IQR] 01:36–3:43). Longer mean visit times were associated with being female (13.5 minutes longer than males; p&lt;0.001) and attending with a baby (18.8 minutes longer than those without; p&lt;0.01), and shorter mean times with later arrival (14.9 minutes shorter per hour after 0700; p&lt;0.001) and attendance for tuberculosis or ante/postnatal care (24.8 and 32.6 minutes shorter, respectively, than HIV/acute care; p&lt;0.01).</jats:p><jats:p>Overall, attendees spent more of their time indoors (median 95.6% [IQR 46–100]) than outdoors (2.5% [IQR 0–35]). Attendees at clinics with outdoor waiting areas spent a greater proportion (median 13.7% [IQR 1– 75]) of their time outdoors.</jats:p><jats:p>In two clinics in KZN (no appointment system), occupancy densities of ∼2.0 persons/m<jats:sup>2</jats:sup> were observed in smaller waiting rooms during busy periods. In one clinic in WC (appointment system), occupancy density did not exceed 1.0 persons/m<jats:sup>2</jats:sup> despite higher overall attendance.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusions</jats:title><jats:p>Longer waiting times were associated with early arrival, being female, and attending with a young child. Attendees generally waited where they were asked to. Regular estimation of occupancy density (as patient flow proxy) may help staff assess for risk of infection transmission and guide intervention to reduce time spent in risky spaces.</jats:p></jats:sec>