Evaluating Different Strategies on the Blood Collection Counter Settings to Improve Patient Waiting Time in Outpatient Units

Bibliographic Data

ID13775754
AuthorsChih-Hao Chen (0000-0001-8495-9312, Tunghai University), Chih‐Hao Chen (0000-0002-1258-8775, Tunghai University), Yao‐Te Tsai (0000-0003-3158-1517, Feng Chia University), Chun-An Chou (0000-0001-5806-2093, Northeastern University), Shao-Jen Weng (0000-0003-2230-6775, Tunghai University, corresponding author), Wen‐Chin Lee (0000-0001-6172-1483, Chang Bing Show Chwan Memorial Hospital, corresponding author), Wen-Chin Lee (Division of Nephrology, Department of Internal Medicine, Chang Bing Show Chwan Memorial Hospital, Changhua, Taiwan), Li‐Wei Hsiao (Chang Bing Show Chwan Memorial Hospital), Li-Wei Hsiao (Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Department of Internal Medicine, Chang Bing Show Chwan Memorial Hospital, Changhua, Taiwan), Natan Derek (Tunghai University), Chang-Pu Ko (0000-0003-2196-5955, Feng Chia University)
Year2022
Volume59
Pages469580221095797-469580221095797
Publication date2022-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueINQUIRY The Journal of Health Care Organization Provision and Financing (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0046-9580 • E-ISSN: 1945-7243
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/00469580221095797
PMID35505594
OpenAlexW4229010318
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited45

Long patient waiting time is one of the major problems in the healthcare system and it would decrease patient satisfaction. Previous studies usually investigated how to improve the treatment flow in order to reduce patient waiting time or length of stay. The studies on blood collection counters have received less attention. Therefore, the objective of this study is to reduce the patient waiting time at outpatient clinics for metabolism and nephrology outpatients. A discrete-event simulation is used to analyze the four different strategies for blood collection counter resource allocation. Through analyzing four different strategic settings, the experimental results revealed that the maximum number of patients waiting before the outpatient clinics was reduced from 41 to 33 (20%); the maximum patient waiti-ng time at the outpatient clinics was decreased from 201.6 minutes to 83 minutes (59%). In this study, we found that adjusting the settings of blood collection counters would be beneficial. Assigning one exclusive blood collection counter from 8 to 10 am is the most suitable option with the least impact on the operational process for hospital staff. The results provide managerial insight regarding the cost-effective strategy selection for the hospital operational strategy

Blood collection · Data collection · Medical emergency · Operations management · Outpatient clinic · Patient satisfaction · Statistics · Emergency Medicine · Healthcare Operations and Scheduling Optimization · Healthcare Policy and Management · Hospital Admissions and Outcomes · Internal Medicine · Medicine · Nursing

Tools

Open DOIOpen Access