Analysis of waiting and service cost for a multi-server queuing model in a tertiary care hospital

Abstract

A common situation that occurs in everyday life is that of queuing or waiting in line. The problem of queuing in relation to the time spent by patients to access clinical services is increasingly becoming a major source of concern to most health –care providers. As the patients wait too long for service could result to cost to them which is called as waiting cost. Providing good service capacity to operate a system involves excessive cost. But not providing enough service capacity results in excessive waiting time and cost. In this study, the queuing characteristics at the tertiary care hospital of the Autonomous State medical College, Firozabad was analyzed using a multi-Server queuing Model and the Waiting and service Costs determined with a view to determining the optimal service level. Data for this study was collected at the tertiary care hospital for four weeks through observations, interviews and by administering questionnaire. The data was analyzed using TORA optimization Software as well as using descriptive analysis.