APOLLO INSTITUTE OF HEALTH CARE MANAGEMENT

DISSERTATION PROPOSAL

STUDENT NAME: SHAIK MASOOD

ROLL NUMBER: 98114300376

TOPIC : Process flow mapping and waiting time analysis of outpatient department in a
corporate hospital.

ORGANISATION NAME: Care hospitals, Banjara Hills, Hyderabad.

INTRODUCTION: A hospital, in the modern sense, is an institution for health care
providing patient treatment by specialized staff and equipment, and often, but not always
providing for longer-term patient stays. Its historical meaning, until relatively recent times,
was a place of hospitality. An outpatient is a patient who is not hospitalized for 24 hours or
more but who visits a hospital, clinic, or associated facility for diagnosis or treatment.
Treatment provided in this fashion is called ambulatory care. Outpatient surgery eliminates
inpatient hospital admission, reduces the amount of medication prescribed, and uses the
physician's time more efficiently. More procedures are now being performed in a surgeon's
office, termed office-based surgery, rather than in a hospital-based operating room.
Outpatient surgery is suited best for healthy patients undergoing minor or intermediate
procedures (limited urologic, ophthalmologic, or ear, nose, and throat procedures and
procedures involving the extremities).

IMPORTANCE OF THE STUDY

Health care providers are under a great deal of pressure to reduce costs and improve quality
of services. In recent years, given the greater emphasis on preventive medicine and shorter
lengths of stay, outpatient services are becoming an essential component of health care.
Hospitals that cannot make their outpatient services more efficient and cost-effective find
themselves in financially unviable positions in this fast-growing competitive industry.
Over the years, population has increased several folds and the greater demand and
expectations of patients from hospitals are far more than what is currently being perceived.
As a result, it has become a constant rat-race to make our current systems faster. This brings
about questions such as how do we measure such improvements? Is there a standard
procedure? The problem of waiting is recognized as one of the major challenges of many
hospitals. This problem limits hospitals from serving population who are mostly busy and
want to spend their valuable time productively. In an eye hospital where this study was
carried out approximately it takes about 1 hour and thirty minutes to serve a patient.
OBJECTIVES:
 To determine the flow of patients and the time spent in the hospital through arrival
and service characteristics.
 To study the utilization of various servers.
 To understand the bottlenecks in the patient flow.
 To determine the waiting time and overcrowding of patients.
 To propose alternatives to make the patient flow process efficient with reduced
waiting.
 Separate the few major problems from the many possible problems so you can focus on your
improvement efforts.

METHODOLOGY OF THE STUDY

SCOPE: Usually, data for further analysis can be obtained from a simulation model more
cheaply than from the real- world system. Simulation methods are often easier to apply than
pure analytical methods and hence can be employed by many more individuals. The non
technical persons can comprehend simulation easier than a complex mathematical system.
These helps in fixing individual appointment schedule of the patient. Monitor process
variation over time. Differentiate between special cause and common cause variation.

SAMPLE DESIGN & SOURCES OF DATA:

The data required for the study is mainly of primary type and has been collected by
observation, interviewing and survey technique on OPD patients.

ANALYTICAL TOOLS: Tools used in the project are Pie charts, Bar diagram, process
mapping, Fish-bone analysis and pareto chart.

LIMITATIONS:
 In this study other aspects like physical facilities, staffing pattern, OPD design
pattern, policy and procedure are not covered.
 The study is limited to a particular department of the hospital and the same
methodology may not be feasible for other departments.
 Time constraint