What is queuing theory and how is it used?
Queuing theory is a methodology that helps match random demand to fixed capacity. Queuing theory was first used in telecommunications and then was adopted by all major industries, like airlines, the Internet and most service-delivery organizations. However, in the health care industry, when we had unlimited cash flow, nobody cared very much about how to match demand and capacity. We used to throw around as much money as we needed to meet demand and not necessarily worry about being efficient or frugal. I would say it’s probably the last industry where queuing theory has not been used, until very recently. Q: What kinds of problems can queuing theory solve for hospitals? A: A lot. For example, how many nurses do we need to triage in the emergency department for different parts of the day or different days of the week? How many beds do we need? To build one bed in the hospital, the capital investment exceeds $1 million, not to mention the operating cost that usually exceeds a quarter-mil
