Managing patients' wait time in specialist out-patient clinic using real-time data from existing queue management and...

In major cancer centers, heavy patients load and multiple registration stations could cause significant wait time, and can be result in patient complains. Real-time patient journey data and visual display are useful tools in hospital patient queue management. This paper demonstrates how we capture patient queue data without deploying any tracing devices; and how to convert data into useful patient journey information to understand where interventions are likely to be most effective. During our system development, remarkable effort has been spent on resolving data discrepancy and balancing between accuracy and system performances. A web-based dashboard to display real-time information and a framework for data analysis were also developed to facilitate our clinics' operation. Result shows our system could eliminate more than 95% of data capturing errors and has improved patient wait time data accuracy since it was deployed.