Shortening a hospital appointment queue
Average wait in the outpatient clinic is 68 minutes and patients per doctor are fixed. Where do you cut the queue?
Problem
In a state hospital’s internal medicine clinic, appointments are 15 minutes apart but consultations run between 9 and 26 minutes. Delay accumulates through the day; the last patients wait 68 minutes on average.
Background
22% of patients no-show, 14% arrive without an appointment. Patients waiting for lab results queue again in the same line. Doctors take lunch in rotation.
Constraints
- Doctor count and working hours cannot increase.
- The appointment software is centrally managed; the interface cannot change.
- Patient satisfaction must not drop.
Expected solution
A queue analysis, a proposed scheduling scheme and a pilot measurement plan. Include risks and counter-arguments.
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