Management of Lines during Pandemics: Using Queuing Theory

Abstract

In order to reduce the transmission of the viral disease in the coronavirus era, sustained social isolation measures have been required. To enforce social distance protocols, healthcare facilities are limiting the size of their working team and conducting their organisations on a shift-based schedule. The potential for creating waiting lines at service delivery sites is built into social distance protocol. Many countries\' healthcare facilities are already overrun with patients seeking treatment for mild to serious illnesses on a regular basis. The already strained health systems are now under additional strain due to COVID-19. Despite an increase in visits, precautions for social distance must be taken. It is abbreviated to provide quick service, which is essential for patients visiting hospitals for treatment. Delivery, a vital requirement for patients visiting hospitals for medical care, is sped up. In most healthcare facilities, particularly in Ghana, waiting lines have become a typical occurrence and a barrier to providing healthcare. In addition to forfeiting financial gains, delays and subpar medical care may result in fatalities. In order to minimise the effects of COVID-19 and simultaneously cover capacity to fulfil the increased demands for health care delivery, units are tasked with managing staff schedules effectively. Therefore, making an effort to cut down on the amount of time needed to wait for medical attention is essential. Using query theory, we analyse the queue condition at a case Outpatient Department (OPD) in this work and provide suggestions for queue management. The research was carried out on May 2020. We also provide a method for calculating the ideal number of service windows needed to cut down on patient wait times. Additionally, a numerical analysis using pertinent equations from queuing theory is provided for the case department\'s queuing condition.

Introduction

I. INTRODUCTION

The coronavirus pandemic has left the world dealing with a serious public health issue. The newly named coronavirus, COVID-19, belongs to the coronavirus family of viruses. The Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) is a novel strain of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) (SARS-CoV-2). The COVID-19 virus infects both people and animals' respiratory systems. Late December 2019 saw the pathogen's outbreak in Wuhan, China. Following a protracted period of hesitation, COVID-19 was officially declared to be pandemic in February 2020 by the World Health Organization (WHO). Most of the world has been affected by its expansion, including the entire continent of Africa. COVID-19 is spread when bodily contact between droplets from an infected person and vulnerable human body areas like the mouth, nose, and eyes occurs. At the time of writing, the virus has killed a number of people and infected well over 50,000,000 individuals worldwide. With the coronavirus pandemic present, health systems around the world are seriously under attack. Hospitals and temporary isolation facilities are employed as case management locations (CDC, 2020). The COVID-19 places even additional strain on the public health systems of nations around the world, especially developing nations like Ghana, given the prevalence of numerous other diseases and the sheer volume of patient visits to hospitals and other health facilities. Health care systems have run their course in many nations.

In this article, the mathematical idea of queuing theory is used to study queue management in healthcare facilities. In this era of the coronavirus pandemic, the primary goal is to bring a mathematical viewpoint to researching and understanding waiting lines at healthcare facilities in order to improve visitor safety and stem the spread of the infectious disease.

A. Background of Queuing Theory

The study of waiting in lines is known as queuing theory, and it has applications in operations research and mathematics. Agner Krarup Erlang's study, which involved developing models to represent the Copenhagen telephone exchange, is where the queuing theory concept first emerged [6].

Conclusion

The ongoing coronavirus pandemic is severely threatening health systems throughout the world. Most health facilities have outpatient departments that serve as common sites of contact and service. The emergence of COVID-19 has increased the workload for outpatient departments and numerous other crucial care facilities. The delivery of rapid, high-quality healthcare is impeded by the growing and widespread presence of patient waiting lines. The ideal number of service windows must be determined in order to reduce patient waiting times and benefit from the associated improvements in health care delivery. This will help outpatient departments operate more efficiently and expedite service delivery during epidemics like the corona virus. In this study, we show how queueing theory can be used to control patient wait times at outpatient services. The outpatient case department uses an M/M/1 queuing system as its paradigm. In a one-week period, the patient arrival rate and service rate were assessed. The performance of the case outpatient department was evaluated computationally using formulas from queueing theory, including measures of system usage, anticipated patient volume, patient wait times, and more.

References

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Copyright

Copyright © 2022 Aarthi R, Sumitha R. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.