In
hospital, long waiting queues are a common thing that we see every day. Many
times, some patients do not have enough patience to wait until their turn to be
served. In order to manage the performance of their customer service, the
management of hospital need to have a proper strategy to minimize the waiting
line while also minimizing the cost as well. Providing the patients with timely
access with a purpose to deliver appropriate medical care is a fundamental part
of healthcare performance which will improve the satisfaction of patients. For
this reason, the hospitals should measure the performance of the queuing system
that they use as mentioned below (Song & Tucker, 2016).
Utilization of Strategy to Minimize the Waiting Line in Hospitals
Based on a
management perspective, utilization in hospitals is frequently viewed as a
productivity measure, and thus, this utilization measure should be high. Utilization
means the capacity of rooms or beds that provided by the hospital to serve the
patients who come for a check-up or other appointments (Ali,
Salehnejad, & Mansur, 2019).
Service Capacity of Strategy to Minimize the Waiting Line in Hospitals
The hospitals
need to make sure that they have a service capacity that will meet the demand
of patients, balancing the utilization system, along with the wait time of
patients. In a service capacity, four key aspects influence the wait time of
the patients such as the average service rate, the average patient demand, and
the modification of both (Bittencourt, Verter, &
Yalovsky, 2018).
Delay of Strategy to Minimize the Waiting Line in Hospitals
Delay measure
also considered as the most essential to service excellence provided by the
hospitals. This type of measure must reflect both clinical realities and also
patient viewpoints as well. For instance, even though the hospital arrivals
with some non-urgent complications might not necessitate care in a quick or
immediate time from a clinical perspective, but it is obvious that long waits
to see a doctor will consequence in high levels of disappointment, and possibly
the patients might even departure, which possibly will lead to lost revenue for
the hospital (Alenany & El-Baz, 2017).
References of Strategy to Minimize the Waiting Line in Hospitals
Alenany, E., & El-Baz, M. A. (2017). Modelling a
Hospital as a Queueing Network: Analysis for Improving Performance. World
Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology, International Journal of
Social, Behavioral, Educational, Economic, Business and Industrial
Engineering, 1160-1166.
Ali, M., Salehnejad, R.,
& Mansur, M. (2019). Hospital productivity: The role of efficiency
drivers. The International journal of health planning and managemen.
Bittencourt, O., Verter, V.,
& Yalovsky, M. (2018). Hospital capacity management based on the queueing
theory. International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management,
224-238.
Song, H., & Tucker, A.
(2016). Performance improvement in health care organizations. Foundations
and Trends® in Technology, Information and Operations Management ,
153-309.