Description
AUGeneral provides simple elective hernia surgeries to residents of Washington, D.C. Lately, the hospital started to hear complaints that the wait times are long and has asked you to investigate this issue.
After arriving, patients receive a form from the receptionist and fill in their health history and insurance information. This task does not affect the capacity of the process. The form is then handed back to the receptionist who enters this information into the electronic health record system on the computer. Then, a nurse takes the patient to an examination room to prepare (i.e., take the vitals, give medication) them for the surgery. Then, the patient is brought to the operating room (op. room) in which an anesthesiologist performs general anesthesia to put the patient to an unconscious state. Currently, the anesthesiologist accompanies the patient till the surgery ends. After the patient is ready, the surgery starts. After the surgery, the patient is taken to a recovery room and the patient is attended by a nurse. The patient checks out once they are well enough to leave the facility.
The following table shows the average time required to complete each task and the corresponding resources associated with each task:
Resources | Task | Average Time (minutes) |
Receptionist | Check-in | 4 |
Nurse, Exam Room | Preparation | 15 |
Anesthesiologist, Op. Room | Anesthesia | 10 |
Anesthesiologist, Surgeon, Nurse, Op. Room | Surgery | 50 |
Nurse, Recovery Room | Recovery | 30 |
Receptionist | Check-out | 6 |
There are 2 receptionists, 6 nurses, 2 exam rooms, 3 anesthesiologists, 3 surgeons, 3 op. rooms and 2 recovery rooms in the hospital.
a)(3 points) What is the flow time of a customer in this process (in minutes)? Assume all resources are available whenever needed and there are no delays between tasks (e.g. you may ignore the time the patient spends walking or getting transported between the tasks).
b)(3 points) Complete the table below. Determine the total workload assigned to each resource per patient. Show all your work and fill in the answers in the table. Notice that you will compute the capacity of each resource.
Resource | Average Time per Patient (minutes) | Hourly Capacity (patients/hour/resource) of Each Resource |
Receptionist | ||
Nurse | ||
Exam Room | ||
Anesthesiologist | ||
Op. Room | ||
Surgeon | ||
Recovery room |
c)(2 points) What is the hourly capacity (i.e., maximum hourly throughput rate) of the process? Remember to consider the number of resources available. Your answer should be in number of patients per hour.
d)(2 points) Which resource (or resources) is (are) the bottleneck of this process?
e)(4 points) What is the hourly utilization rate of each resource if the bottleneck(s) work nonstop during a 10-hour day? Keep in mind that the non-bottleneck resources may be idle during the day because the process follows the pace of the bottleneck resource and that a patient is served completely on the day they arrive, i.e., there is no work-in-process remaining at the end of the day. Complete the table below.
Resource | Utilization rate |
Receptionist | |
Nurse | |
Exam Room | |
Anesthesiologist | |
Op. Room | |
Surgeon | |
Recovery room |
Unformatted Attachment Preview
Purchase answer to see full attachment
Explanation & Answer
Hey there, thanks for waiting! Attached is the file. Let me know if you have any questions or edits.😃
Question 4. (14 points)
AUGeneral provides simple elective hernia surgeries to residents of Washington, D.C.
Lately, the hospital started to hear complaints that the wait times are long and has
asked you to investigate this issue.
After arriving, patients receive a form from the receptionist and fill in their health
history and insurance information. This task does not affect the capacity of the
process. The form is then handed back to the receptionist who enters this information
into the electronic health record system on the computer. Then, a nurse takes the
patient to an examination room to prepare (i.e., take the vitals, give medication) them
for the surgery. Then, the patient is brought to the operating room (op. room) in which
an anesthesiologist performs general anesthesia to put the patient to an unconscious
state. Currently, the anesthesiologist accompanies the patient till the surgery ends.
After the patient is ready, the surgery starts. After the surgery, the patient is taken to
a recovery room and the patient is attended by a nurse. The patient checks out once
they are well enough to leave the facility.
The following table shows the average time required t...
Review
Review
