Browsing by Author "Acheampong, Linda"

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    Queuing In Health Care Centres: A Case Study of the Outpatient Department of the North Suntreso Hospital, Kumasi.
    (May, 2013) Acheampong, Linda
    Queuing theory is the mathematical study of waiting lines. The theory calculates the average time a customer spends in a system, the average time a customer spends in a line, and the average time a customer spends in service. The Out-Patient (OPD) department in any hospital is considered to be the shop window of the hospital and it is the most important service provided by all hospitals as it is the point of contact between a hospital and the community. The objective of the study was to find out the average number of arrivals entering the Out-Patient Department (OPD) of the North-Suntreso Hospital, the average service time of patients and the probability that a patient has to wait for a doctor. It also found out the average time a patient spends waiting for a doctor and the average number of patients who were present at the department. A stop watch was used to calculate the number of minutes spent by each patient from the record, history and the consulting room sections. Data were collected on Monday to Friday from the hours of 8:00 am to 12:00 pm. The number of patients from each section was taken. Queuing model was used to analyze the data gathered on patients’ arrival and service times. It was realized that Wednesday recorded the highest arrival rates of patients. The consulting room recorded the highest number of patients waiting in the queue on Wednesday. On the average, a patient spent the following number of minutes in the department before leaving the hospital; 38.6525 on Monday, 16.2712 minutes on Tuesday, 47.9112 minutes on Wednesday, 18.436 minutes on Thursday and 31.0427 minutes on Friday. The results, thus, shows that patients queued for long in the entire system before receiving treatment, which made them uncomfortable.