A Queuing Model to Optimize the Performance of Surgical Units

In any country healthcare service takes a major place which provides care for persons who are not well. When considering the Healthcare service in Sri Lanka, National Hospital of Sri Lanka plays a major role. The hospital faces the problem of overcrowding the patients and long waiting queues of patients for different healthcare needs specially on surgical purposes. The objective of the study is to introduce a queuing model for optimizing the performance of surgical units in National Hospital of Sri Lanka. In the study, the operation theaters of Accident and Emergency unit were only considered. According to the queuing model M/M/3 the existing system is not utilized well due to arrival rate is higher than the service rate. Hence it is needed to increase the service rate. According to the current system the theaters function in 4 equal work shifts in 24 hours. Some operation theaters do not function on all the shifts. It was identify that the average maximum service rate of one shift is 4.25 patients. By making all theaters functioning in that rate in all shifts the system can make efficient with the service rate of 51 patients per day. This task will be achieved by increasing the capacity of live resources.