title: Assessing the Queuing Process Using Data Envelopment Analysis: an Application in Health Centres.
abstract: Queuing is one of the very important criteria for assessing the performance and efficiency of any service industry, including healthcare. Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) is one of the most widely-used techniques for performance measurement in healthcare. However, no queue management application has been reported in the health-related DEA literature. Most of the studies regarding patient flow systems had the objective of improving an already existing Appointment System. The current study presents a novel application of DEA for assessing the queuing process at an Outpatients' department of a large public hospital in a developing country where appointment systems do not exist. The main aim of the current study is to demonstrate the usefulness of DEA modelling in the evaluation of a queue system. The patient flow pathway considered for this study consists of two stages; consultation with a doctor and pharmacy. The DEA results indicated that waiting times and other related queuing variables included need considerable minimisation at both stages.
authors.affiliation: Aston Business School, Aston University, Birmingham, UK.
authors.forename: Komal A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Safdar
authors.affiliation: Aston Business School, Aston University, Birmingham, UK. a.emrouznejad@aston.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Emrouznejad
authors.affiliation: Aston Business School, Aston University, Birmingham, UK.
authors.forename: Prasanta K
authors.initials: PK
authors.lastname: Dey
mesh_terms: D001071:Appointments and Schedules; D017598:Efficiency, Organizational; D015276:Health Care Rationing; D006779:Hospitals, Public / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D010045:Outpatients; D010154:Pakistan; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D013997:Time Factors; D014850:Waiting Lists
keywords: Appointment scheduling system; Data envelopment analysis; Healthcare; Patient flow; Queuing