Question
An outpatient clinic that is open two hundred days a year receives 6000 visits per year or approximately 30 patients per day. The clinic is
An outpatient clinic that is open two hundred days a year receives 6000 visits per year or approximately 30 patients per day. The clinic is open for 6 hours per day. Administrative staff is responsible for processing patients both at check-in and check-out. Each check-in requires that the patient be retrieved from the waiting area, contact and insurance information be reviewed, and possibly a copay collected. This process takes approximately ten minutes. Checkout takes approximately twenty minutes per patient and involves scheduling follow-up appointments, ordering tests, and answering questions. Currently, three employees perform administrative duties. One is assigned check-in duties, and the other two mostly checkout patients. All are cross-trained on both roles, and in reality, the staff varies from day to day in who performs which role. To address the long wait times, the clinic administrator wants to evaluate hiring additional staff members. Assuming that both service rates approximate exponential distributions and using the Queuing Calculator in Excel, calculate the optimal staffing pattern for the clinic that ensures that patients wait no more than 30 minutes on average (for check-in and check-out combined).
Step by Step Solution
There are 3 Steps involved in it
Step: 1
Get Instant Access to Expert-Tailored Solutions
See step-by-step solutions with expert insights and AI powered tools for academic success
Step: 2
Step: 3
Ace Your Homework with AI
Get the answers you need in no time with our AI-driven, step-by-step assistance
Get Started