Emergency Room Process

You have recently accepted a process improvement job for a regional healthcare system. System administrators are concerned about the waiting times at a small local hospital emergency room and have charged you with analyzing the process and making a recommendation for improvement. You observe the ER and document the following information about their process.

When a patient visits the emergency room they must move through several stages. The first step is check$-$in where they must provide their personal information to the receptionist. There are three receptionists on staff at a time and the average time for them to check$-$in a patient is $7$ minutes. Next the patient will wait in the lobby until a triage nurse is available. There are $12$ triage nurses on staff during each $12$ hour shift. It takes a triage nurse an average of $20$ minutes to evaluate a patient. Then the patient will see a doctor or nurse practitioner to receive treatment. The average treatment time is $15$ minutes and there are $6$ doctors on shift at a time. Finally, the patient is ready for admission to a hospital floor or discharge. On average this process takes $30$ minutes and there are $5$ staff members assigned to complete it$.$

Question at position $1$

$1$

$1$ point

Question at position $1$

What is the cycle time of the check$-$in process? $($in minutes$)$

What is the cycle time of the check$-$in process? $($in minutes$)$

Type your answer...

Question at position $2$

$2$

$1$ point

Question at position $2$

What is the cycle time of triage evaluation? $($in minutes$)$

What is the cycle time of triage evaluation? $($in minutes$)$

Type your answer...

Question at position $3$

$3$

$1$ point

Question at position $3$

What is the cycle time of treatment? $($in minutes$)$

What is the cycle time of treatment? $($in minutes$)$

Type your answer...

Question at position $4$

$4$

$1$ point

Question at position $4$

What is the cycle time of discharge? $($in minutes$)$

What is the cycle time of discharge? $($in minutes$)$

Type your answer...

Question at position $5$

$5$

$1$ point

Question at position $5$

Which step is the bottleneck?

Which step is the bottleneck?

Treatment

Evaluation

Discharge

Check$-$in

Question at position $6$

$6$

$2$ points

Question at position $6$

What is the capacity of the emergency room in patients$/$hour$?$

What is the capacity of the emergency room in patients$/$hour$?$

Type your answer...

Question at position $7$

$7$

$2$ points

Question at position $7$

If you could add a worker to any step of the process, which would you choose?

If you could add a worker to any step of the process, which would you choose?

Discharge

Check$-$in

Evaluation

Treatment

Question at position $8$

$8$

$1$ point

Question at position $8$

What is the new capacity of the emergency room in patients$/$hour with the added worker?

What is the new capacity of the emergency room in patients$/$hour with the added worker?

Type your answer...

Question at position $9$

$9$

$1$ point

Question at position $9$

This is a rural ER with a relatively small patient load of $11$ patients per hour on average. What is the capacity utilization of this process after the capacity increase? $($Type your answer as a decimal. For example, $50\%$ would be $0\mathrm{.}50.)$

This is a rural ER with a relatively small patient load of $11$ patients per hour on average. What is the capacity utilization of this process after the capacity increase? $($Type your answer as a decimal. For example, $50\%$ would be $0\mathrm{.}50.)$

Type your answer...

Question at position $10$

$10$

$1$ point

Question at position $10$

A group of $8$ technicians work to monitor donors at a blood drive after they have donated. A technician can monitor $10$ patients at a time and each donor must be monitored for $15$ minutes after donating. What is the capacity of this process in donors$/$hour$?$

A group of $8$ technicians work to monitor donors at a blood drive after they have donated. A technician can monitor $10$ patients at a time and each donor must be monitored for $15$ minutes after donating. What is the capacity of this process in donors$/$hour$?$

Type your answer...

Question at position $11$

$11$

$2$ points

Question at position $11$

A local college is hosting a flu vaccine clinic this Fall. People who attend the vaccine clinic will go through four stages: check$-$in$,$ education, vaccine administration, and observation. The cycle times of these stages are $4$ minutes, $2$ minutes, $1$ minute, and $3$ minutes respectively. The school estimates that the average number of patients in the system at a given time will be $9.$ How long would you expect it to take for a person to get their vaccine from start to finish $($in minutes$)?$

A local college is hosting a flu vaccine clinic this Fall. People who attend the vaccine clinic will go through four stages: check$-$in$,$ education, vaccine administration, and observa