1. Getting a physical examination at a physician’s office involves a series of s
ID: 370687 • Letter: 1
Question
1. Getting a physical examination at a physician’s office involves a series of steps. The table below lists these activities and their average times. The activities can occur in any order, but the doctor’s consultation must be the last. Three nurses are assigned to perform activities 1, 2, and 4. Two physicians perform activities 3 and 5.
Activity
Average time in min.
1. Blood pressure, weight, temperature
6
2. Medical history
20
3. Doctor’s checkup
18
4. Lab work
10
5. Doctor’s consultation
12
a. What is (are) the bottleneck activity and the maximum number of patients (system capacity) who can be seen per hour?
b. Wages for a nurse is $35 per hour and a doctor costs $80 per hour. Each patient pays $100 on an average for a visit. Assuming that the system is 75% utilized, what is the profit/loss for the system if nurses and doctors work for 8hrs in a day.
c. Suggest reallocation of nursing/and or physician activities that would result in increased service capacity and draw a product flow diagram. What is the capacity of your improved system?
2. Crazy Joe operates a canoe rental service on the Guadalupe River. He currently leases 15 canoes from a dealer in a nearby city at a cost of $10 per day. On weekends, when the water is high, he picks up the canoes and drives to a launching point on the river, where he rents canoes to white-water enthusiasts for $30 per day. Lately, canoeists have complained about the unavailability of canoes, so Crazy Joe has recorded the demand for canoes and found the experience below for the past 20 days:
Daily Demand
Frequency
10
1
11
1
12
2
13
2
14
2
15
3
16
3
17
2
18
2
19
1
20
1
a. Recommend an appropriate number of canoes to lease.
Activity
Average time in min.
1. Blood pressure, weight, temperature
6
2. Medical history
20
3. Doctor’s checkup
18
4. Lab work
10
5. Doctor’s consultation
12
Explanation / Answer
Ans 1a) From the problem we can see that 1 and 2 can be performed simultaneously but 4 is an independent activity. So the nurse dedicated to lab work cannot carry out 1 and 2. Now consultation and checkup can be performed simultaneously. So main bottlenecks will be at 1 and 3. Considering all possible combinations maximum no. of patients treated per hour = 3.
Ans 2) Appropriate no. of canoes to be leased per day = 2 since it will take care of both high and low demands.
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