Optimization of Man Power Deployment for Covid-19 Screening in a Tertiary Care Hospital: A Study of Utility of Queuing Analysis.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES: The recent Covid-19 pandemic has burdened the healthcare facilities, especially in the presence of limited infrastructure. We aimed at applying a queuing model to the Covid-19 screening area so as to optimize the screening services and ensuring that no patient is refused the service. METHODS: The mean arrival time of patients, number of physicians, mean screening time and queue characteristics were observed and entered in the M/M/c/K queuing model using R programming to optimize the number of physicians required in the screening area. RESULTS: Considering the mean arrival of 7 patients in 10 minutes and screening of 3 patients in 10 minutes by 1 physician, 2 physicians were assigned. At this capacity, the probability of saturation of the system was 15% with patient loss rate of 1.05 per 10 minutes. Queuing simulation with 3 physicians reduced the patient loss rate to 0.013 per 10 minutes and a saturation probability of 0.2%. However, an increase of arrival rate from 10 to 20 led to an early saturation of the system. CONCLUSION: Queuing models offer an opportunity for the healthcare providers and hospital administrators to optimize patient care services, especially in critical areas with an ever-changing situation such as the current pandemic.