Critical Analysis of Patient Waiting Times in US Healthcare Radiology

This report provides a critical analysis of patient waiting times for radiological procedures within the US healthcare system. The study identifies factors influencing prolonged wait times, such as the increasing demand for medical services due to the growing diversity of diseases, and insufficient radiology facilities. The objectives include identifying influencing factors, analyzing challenges, and recommending strategies to reduce wait times. The theoretical framework utilizes the Queuing theory to explore strategies for improving patient flow and satisfaction. The report assesses the management system of radiology departments, analyzing evidence and data from existing research to offer recommendations for enhancing service quality, patient satisfaction, and reducing financial costs. The scope focuses on evaluating the management of radiology departments to develop theories addressing wait time issues, ultimately aiming to improve service quality and patient satisfaction. The report references various studies and models including the Payne model of CRM and Queuing theory and provides a comprehensive overview of the issue, examining the root causes of long wait times and suggesting potential solutions based on the current research.

TOPIC: A critical analysis of the patient waiting time for radiological procedures in
the Health Care System in the United States.
NAME: DANIKA DANNY
STUDENT ID: 1821232

Management of patient waiting time in the radiology department of U.S
Background Objectives Method of Analysis
Rationale
The objectives of the following study are –
•Identify the factors which influence the increased
patient wait time.
•Analyse the Challenges involved while reducing
the patient wait time.
• Identify the current strategies that will help in
reducing the patient wait time.
•Provide recommendations to effectively reduce
patient waiting times.
Theoretical Framework
In order to reduce the patient wait time in the
radiology department, it is necessary for the
leaders of the hospital to approach better
strategies by using the Queuing theory waiting
time of patients in the department (Reed 2018).
Queuing theory is a study on the waiting time or
queue that is constructed in order to predict the
queue lengths and waiting time.
Evidence and data
Patient wait
time
Patient waiting period is described as the
awaiting duration until being accepted for
the placement of demands or resources
(Hashemi, Asiabar, Rezapour, Azami-
Aghdash, Amnab and Mirabedini 2017).
Reason
People and doctors are constantly pursuing medical
facilities, often without realizing their potential
negative effects, such as contamination induced by CT
scans. This seems that the medical facilities offering
does not meet consumer requirement, resulting in
progressively longer waiting times, and extremely
dissatisfied patients (Alrasheedi, AL-Mohaithef, Edrees
and Chandramohan 2019).
The continuous progression in the diversity of diseases in the healthcare system have resulted
in an increase in the requirement for medical services provided in the radiology divisions,
hence the need to enhance radiological quality facilities and minimize patient waiting times
(Derylo, Starcevich and Fair 2016).
Variables just like radiology personnel, shortage of proper radiology facilities, and
lack of coordination of departmental and workforce desires are fundamental precepts
that are of importance in evaluating radiology units.
The level of service provided by the radiology divisions was shown to be
insufficient. They need commodity-intensive care resources for the
systems which lead to poor results for patients and disrupted quality of
healthcare (Derylo, Starcevich and Fair 2016).
Data search
• Quality - NCBI, Ensembl, Cochrane, Google scholar and web of science
have been used to collect research articles.
• Keyword search - Radiology, patient wait time, turnover
• Contemporary relevance – Journals from 2011 – 2020
Analysis
• For the critical evaluation of the increased patient wait time in the
radiology department, a literature review has been conducted using the
search strategy.
Reasoning
• Describe the aim and objectives.
• Evidence-based discussion.
• Influence recommendations.
Cause of increased patient wait time Impact of increased patient wait time
Inadequate staffing, increased nurse
turnover, limited healthcare services,
high demand of the patients.
Effect on the quality of care, patient
experience embarrassments, and rise in
the financial costs.
Recommendations
• Developing software which will
inform the doctors about the
availability of medicines
• Developing software that will book
appointments automatically and in a
sequential manner.
• Reducing the variability in the
radiology department or developing
possible approaches that will
enhance their radiology
department’s function in working
according to the patient’s variability.
Aim
Scope
The scope of the research is to conduct an evaluation upon the management of the
radiological department of a hospital in order to assess the reason behind the
waiting time of time. This will help in development of a theory that will specifically
address the issue and improve the quality of service and patient satisfaction level.
This review aims to assess the management system of the radiology
department in decreasing the patient waiting time. Time and enhance the
quality of both the services and patient’s and eventually decreases financial
Figure 1: Queuing theory
Source: (Idigo et al., 2019)

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