Question: A triage system has been proposed for the ER described in Exercise 3.4. Under the proposed triage plan, entering patients will be registered as before.

A triage system has been proposed for the ER described in Exercise 3.4. Under the proposed triage plan, entering patients will be registered as before. They will then be quickly examined by a nurse practioner who will classify them as Simple Prescriptions or Potential Admits. While Simple Prescriptions will move on to an area staffed for regular care, Potential Admits will be taken to the emergency area. Planners anticipate that the initial examination will take 3 minutes. They expect that, on average, 20 patients will be waiting to register and 5 will be waiting to be seen by the triage nurse. Recall that registration takes an average of 2 minutes per patient. The triage nurse is expected to take an average of 1 minute per patient. Planners expect the Simple Prescriptions area to have, on average, 15 patients waiting to be seen. As before, once a patient’s turn comes, each will take 5 minutes of a doctor’s time. The hospital anticipates that, on average, the emergency area will have only 1 patient waiting to be seen. As before, once that patient’s turn comes, he or she will take 30 minutes of a doctor’s time. Assume that, as before, 90 percent of all patients are Simple Prescriptions. Assume, too, that the triage nurse is 100 percent accurate in making classifications. Under the proposed plan, how long, on aver-age, will a patient spend in the ER? On average, how long will a Potential Admit spend in the ER? On aver-age, how many patients will be in the ER? Assume the process to be stable; that is, average inflow rate equals average outflow rate.

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