Quantitative methods ( Question for Nancy Carol only)

Pre and post-examination processing of patients in an outpatient clinic involves various tasks performed by clerks and nurses. A time study conducted by the decision support department is shown in table EX 6.2

A, determine the observed time for the pre-post exam process

B, determine the normal time for the pre-post exam process

C, determine the standard time for the pre-post exam process, using the basic-moderate allowance for the job

D, Calculate the standard time for the exam process. Do you think the time spent in the outpatient clinic, without including the exam time, is reasonable? If not, what improvements would you recommend?

Table EX 6.2

Observations (in minutes)

Activity Performance rating 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

Registration 1.15 3 6 4 8 4 5 4 6 4 6 4

Copayment 0.95 7 9 11 8 12 9 6 11 9 12 10

Wait for nurse 1.00 17 15 17 12 11 17 12 19 12 20 18

Vital signs 0.96 9 8 11 12 9 8 10 12 8 12 11

Wait for exam room 1.00 12 15 12 14 21 18 11 16 9 14 18

Placement to exam room 0.98 3 5 4 6 3 5 3 6 5 4 7

Wait for physician 1.0 10 17 21 11 13 15 14 12 19 15 9

Examination 1.0 18 15 19 22 18 12 19 21 16 21 17

Test order entry 1.02 4 7 3 5 4 11 9 12 11 14 9

Referral requests 1.11 11 10 16 9 8 9 7 7 9 7 6

Follow-up appointment 1.08 3 5 3 4 3 4 4 5 3 3 5

Scheduling

6.5 An initial work sampling survey to estimate the percentage of time that MRI equipment is idle between 8.00 A.M and 8.00 P.M., found that MRI was idle in 9 of the 120 observations.

A, Determine the percentage of idle time

B, from the initial results, approximately how many observations would it require to estimate the actual percentage of idle time to within 4 percent, with confidence of 95 percent?