The Habit of Viewing Hospital Issues from a Logistics Perspective

Hospital A and Hospital B

For various reasons, I attend two different hospitals. Both are general hospitals located near residential areas with many families. Let's call them Hospital A and Hospital B.

Looking into it, both hospitals opened about 20 years ago, around the same time. At that time, the area where I live saw a rapid increase in residents due to the improvement of surrounding roads and better transportation access. Hospital A was originally a local private clinic, but it was rebuilt and expanded to match the scale of the increased population. Five years later, Hospital B opened as a new facility.

These two hospitals seem to use the same system.
A patient arrives and inserts their patient registration card into the reception machine. A receipt with a consultation number and barcode is issued, and the patient waits to be called to the designated consultation window. When it is their turn, their consultation number appears on a digital signage screen, and at the same time, a relatively loud "ping-pong" sound plays.
When the consultation is over, the patient takes their medical record to the payment reception. After a while, their consultation number appears on the digital signage again (no ping-pong sound here), and the patient scans the barcode on their receipt at a payment machine to settle the bill. Payment can be made by cash or credit card, and the machine issues a receipt and a statement.

…However, there is a major difference between these two hospitals.
Compared to Hospital B, Hospital A has an unusually long waiting time.
I always make an appointment for my next visit, but the consultation has never started on time.

Why does Hospital A have such long waiting times?

The problem at Hospital A lies in its "flow lines".
I have been involved in logistics for many years and sometimes handle operational improvements within warehouses. Therefore, I can't help but notice these kinds of things...

At Hospital A, there are two reception machines on the left immediately after entering the entrance, and those who have checked in must cross the flow of people who have finished paying and are leaving to head to the back right. This is where the flow of people is disrupted first.

First-time patients stop at the general reception desk immediately to the right of the entrance. After explaining their symptoms, they receive a medical questionnaire at the first-visit reception counter opposite and fill it out. However, for some reason, there is only one person handling the reception, so there is a long line at the first-visit reception. This obstructs the flow of returning patients, and furthermore, those who have checked in for their first visit have to turn back and cross the aisle to receive the questionnaire. (For some reason, there are three receptionists here, and the process of just receiving the questionnaire is extremely smooth.) Here, too, the flow of people intersects.

Both first-time and returning patients then head toward the back right.
This is because the consultation reception is there, and they cannot receive further instructions unless they submit the file they were handed.
And the biggest problem at Hospital A is that there is no flow line to pass through to the back.
To receive a consultation, you must go to the consultation room, but to get to any consultation room, you have to return toward the entrance. This area (between the entrance and the first-visit reception counter) is the bottleneck of this hospital.

Because there is a bottleneck there, people are stagnating on the back side of the first-visit reception counter.
When people stagnate there, some people cannot find a seat in the space opposite the consultation reception. Those who cannot find an empty seat (and who should be there) wander around the hospital looking for one. When that happens, they cannot hear when they are called (and cannot see the digital signage), so the nurses end up frantically searching for the patients.

What about Hospital B?

Compared to that, Hospital B has a smooth flow line.
If you go straight after entering the entrance, there is a reception machine, and returning patients take the receipt issued there and proceed straight to the back to check in for their consultation. First-time patients turn left before the reception machine and head to the first-visit reception counter, so the flow lines are clearly separated.

Patients who have finished their first-visit reception then proceed to the right to join the returning patients at the consultation reception, but since the consultation rooms are located on both the left and right sides of the reception, there is no stagnation of people here.

Which hospital would I rather go to?

Hospital B has a smooth flow of people. There are no nurses running around in a panic, and no one is shouting. Naturally, the waiting time for patients is also short.

It's just a "flow line".
However, just by reviewing that, EX (Employee Experience) and CX (Customer Experience) will improve significantly.
Nursing is a physically and mentally demanding job. If the working environment is poor, the response to patients will become rough, which will further lower the CX. If that happens, the evaluation of the hospital itself will drop (regardless of the doctor's skill).

The same can be said for logistics sites.
How are the flow lines at your workplace?

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