TOPLINE:

A nurse practitioner (NP)-led quality improvement project implementing a triage nurse intervention reduced the mean wait time and total encounter time at a walk-in clinic, but patient satisfaction scores did not improve.

METHODOLOGY:

• Researchers conducted a quality improvement project analyzing 8708 patient visits at a central Wisconsin walk-in clinic staffed by NPs and physician associates.
• They used a preintervention (n = 4493) and postintervention (n = 4215) design guided by the Iowa Model-Revised framework, comparing data from April to May 2024 with data from the same period in 2025.
• The triage nurse intervention was implemented with existing nursing staff assuming a new triage nurse role during all clinic operating hours, with responsibilities including patient screening, partial rooming, and facilitating common diagnostic tests.
• The primary outcomes included the wait time (minutes until the initial nursing assessment), the total encounter time (the entire duration of the clinic visit), and patient satisfaction, measured using the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS) survey.

TAKEAWAY:

• The mean wait time decreased from 23.82 minutes to 21.21 minutes after the intervention (P < .001).
• The mean total encounter time showed a more substantial decrease from 60.72 minutes to 51.64 minutes (P < .001).
• Patient satisfaction remained unchanged, with top box scores of 77.6% and similar survey response rates before (20.7%; n = 785) and after (20.5%; n = 687) the intervention.

IN PRACTICE:

“NP-led projects can improve walk-in clinic patient flow and operational efficiency,” the authors wrote. “Combining additional strategies with reduction in wait times may be needed to improve patient satisfaction in this setting,” they added.

SOURCE:

The study was led by Andrew G. Studinski, DNP, RN, APNP, FNP-BC, Aspirus Plaza Drive Family Walk-In, Wausau, Wisconsin. It was published online on January 15, 2026, in The Journal for Nurse Practitioners.

LIMITATIONS:

The implementation of the study at a single walk-in clinic limited the generalizability of the findings to other settings. Patient volume decreased by 6.19% during the postintervention vs preintervention period, and the absence of patient acuity level tracking may have affected the results. Even though CAHPS survey response rates remained similar, nonresponse bias could have affected patient satisfaction findings. Additionally, the wait time endpoint changed from rooming time pre-intervention to triage time post-intervention, which may have affected comparisons.

DISCLOSURES:

No funding was received for this study. The authors reported having no relevant conflicts of interest.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.