Patients' demographics of a convenient clinic located in a large railway station in metropolitan Tokyo area

Hidden barriers to visit a medical facility especially for young busy workers have been neglected in the aging society. The aim of this cross-sectional study is to analyze demographics of patients who had visited the first known convenient clinic located inside a railway station, which is adjusted to the lifestyle of working generations. We analyzed de-identified data of patients who had visited the department of internal medicine of a clinic, which is located inside a railway station building and offers primary care with after-hours accessibility in Tokyo, between August 2013 and June 2016. Data were collected on patients' sex, age, time of visit, waiting time, presence or absence of an appointment, diagnosis, and patients' addresses using the electronic health and billing records. Overall, 28,001 patients visited 87,126 times. Number of visits increased in winter season compared with the other seasons. Sixty-one percent were women and the median age of all patients was 38 years (range, 0-102). The number of visits on Mondays was the highest in a week and the most frequent visiting time was between 6 and 7 p.m. The number of visits of working generations (from 15 to 65 years old) and men increased after 6 p.m. and on weekends. The 3 most common diagnoses were upper respiratory tract infection (22,457), allergic rhinitis (20,916), and hypertension (4869). The number of individuals who were referred to other medical institutions was 1022 (1.2%). The median waiting time was 748seconds (range, 2-5344). The number of visits from within 2-, 5-, and 10-mile radius from our clinic was 41,696 (50.6%), 63,190 (76.7%), and 75,015 (91.1%), respectively, and patients' addresses were mainly located along the railway network. The locational and temporal convenience of our clinic has attracted the unmet medical demands especially for young workers who have difficulty in visiting conventional medical institutions.