The Effect of Patient Load on Physician Service Times Conference Paper uri icon

abstract

  • In this paper we investigate the effect that patient load has on physician service time. We first analyze data from an outpatient clinic to determine how doctor service times are impeded when the clinic is busy. We find that service time per patient increases as the number of patients in the system increases. This leads to two important issues. First, it is necessary to determine policies that will improve doctor effectiveness for handling patients. Second, approaches need to be developed that consider the relationship between patient load and service time in order to plan an appropriate number of doctors.

name of conference

  • Proceedings - Annual Meeting of the Decision Sciences Institute

published proceedings

  • Proceedings - Annual Meeting of the Decision Sciences Institute

author list (cited authors)

  • Salzarulo, P. A., Bretthauer, K. M., Ct, M. J., & Schultz, K. L.

complete list of authors

  • Salzarulo, PA||Bretthauer, KM||Côté, MJ||Schultz, KL

publication date

  • December 2002