Question

A patient arrives at an emergency room and must go through two tasks before he can either see a physician or be seated and wait to be called and taken to a room for treatment. The first step is triage where his vital signs are taken and the severity of his problem is assessed by a triage nurse. If a patient is considered to have a minor problem or require acute care, he is directed to the check-in desk where his contact information and health insurance are verified, and where a co-payment is typically collected. Triage requires 15 minutes per patient and check-in requires 5 minutes per patient. The emergency room is open 24 hours per day. How many patients can be processed at this initial stage of an emergency room visit in a 24-hour day?

	a.	1.2 patients per day
	b.	1.6 patients per day
	c.	72 patients per day
	d.	96 patients per day

Answer 1

To be calculated:

Number of patients processed

Given values:

Triage processing time = 15 minutes per patient

Check-in processing time = 5 minutes per patient

Solution:

In an assembly line, Cycle time (CT) of the overall service process is the maximum of service time of the individual processes.

Cycle Time (CT) = Maximum (Triage processing time and check-in processing time)

Cycle Time (CT) = Maximum (15 minutes, 5 minutes)

Cycle Time (CT) of the emergency room = 15 minutes per patient

Number of patients in 1 hour = 60 minutes / Cycle time

Number of patients in 1 hour = 60 minutes / 15 minutes

Number of patients in 1 hour = 4 patients

Number of patients in 24 hours = 4 patients x 24

Number of patients in 24 hours = 96 patients

Answer: Option (D) - 96 patients per day