Evaluating Patient Flow Based on Waiting Time and Travel Distance for Outpatient Clinic Visits

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Author(s): S.Reza Sajjadi (North Dakota State University, USA), Jing Shi (North Dakota State University, USA)and Kambiz Farahmand (North Dakota State University, USA)
Copyright: 2012
Pages: 26
Source title: Management Engineering for Effective Healthcare Delivery: Principles and Applications
Source Author(s)/Editor(s): Alexander Kolker (Children's Hospital of Wisconsin, USA)and Pierce Story (GE Healthcare, USA)
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60960-872-9.ch018

Keywords: Health Information Systems / Medical Information Science Reference / Medicine & Healthcare

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Abstract

Patient flow greatly affects the quality of service delivered to the patients. Among various performance measures identified for patient flow, this chapter focuses on the analytical modeling of two key measures, namely, patient waiting time and travel distance. Waiting time is analyzed by a promising yet simple analytical tool – queuing theory. Three queuing models, including single station, multiple serial stations, and network systems are presented. Moreover, patient travel distance is investigated by an analytical model to evaluate the patient flow. For both measures, the applicability of models is illustrated with numerical examples.

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Evaluating Patient Flow Based on Waiting Time and Travel Distance for Outpatient Clinic Visits

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