A Systematic Review of Multi-Server Queueing System: A Case of Lengthy Wait Times in Hospital Medical Outpatient Department (OPD)

Abstract

 Lengthy wait times in hospital medical outpatient departments (OPD) is a disturbing phenomenon to many healthcare centres in Nigeria and across the globe, because of its numerous effects like overcrowding, patients leaving out of frustration without receiving treatment, as well as stress on both staff and patients. Problems related to patient scheduling and queueing in medical OPDs are gaining increasing attention in theory, in the field of operations research/optimization and healthcare services and in practice. This paper aims to bring together an extensive review of related studies that address the problems of queueing systems in medical outpatient departments. The method employed during the data collection was direct observation (primary data) from the staff (physicians) and the patients who visited the medical outpatient clinic of the two hospitals. The data on the arrival time, waiting time, number of servers, service time, utilization rate, etc. were collected on weekdays (Mondays through Fridays) for the period of four (4) weeks in each hospital. The research design adopted in this research is a case study survey that will examine two hospitals out of many numbers of hospitals/clinics in Nasarawa State. Also, this paper aimed at/or research the various methods of reducing or if not eliminating completely the lengthy wait times; a method that ranges from increase in staff strength and also to building alternative hospital/clinics. This research focuses on the introduction and review of previous literature related to multi-server queueing systems, the methodologies outlined for the purpose of this work are considered, and findings and literature gaps in the research are also considered. Based on the literature reviewed, the leading area in medical informatics research is electronic medical records. Therefore, from the findings of this work, it is recommended that management, policymakers at the national level and other health facilities with similar queuing problems improve overall patient care by installing the optimum number of servers in order to meet patient needs. The significance of the study is to provide sufficient information to the health service providers, government and national to improve service delivery to reduce the customer mortality rate.