International Journal of Research and Innovation in Applied Science (IJRIAS) | Volume VII, Issue VII, July 2022 | ISSN 2454–6194
Application of Queuing Theory in Hospital System: Ante Natal Care Unit Mubi
Nathan Nachandiya1, Bulama H. James2, Titus Z. Fate3 & Ngozi Francisca4
1Computer Science Department, Adamawa State University, Mubi.
2Computer Science Department State Polytechnic, Yola.
3Information Technology Department, Nigerian Army University Biu.
4Computer Science Department, Nigerian Army University Biu.
Abstract: Ante Natal Care (ANC) is a medication provided to pregnant women after pregnancy. This treatment entails register provision, physical review, doctor’s appointment, pharmacy services, laboratory screening, and general health education. Primary Health Care (PHC) delivers certain services to pregnant women. Area of interest to the researchers was the time spent by women during the ANC. Many women remained in the hospital the entire day and some finally went home unattended. This paper attempts to explore the reasons responsible for the hospital’s waste of time and its potential health consequences for these fragile pregnant women. The researchers have analyzed the waiting time, service time and overall time spent in a queue. The data was analyzed using TORA package and the result reveals an average arrival rate (lambda) of 31.00, service time (Mu) = 5.00 at the Registration/ File retrieval unit; an average arrival rate (Lambda) of 5.00, Mu = 4.00 at the BP, Weight, Temperature check unit; an average arrival rate (Lambda) of 5.00, Mu = 4.00 Consulting with Doctor; an average arrival rate (Lambda) of 4.00 , Mu = 32 at the Health Talk unit and finally average arrival rate (Lambda) of 29.00, Mu = 5.00 at the Pharmacy. This analysis revealed that reasonable amount of time is spent by these women on queue, and service discipline of First in First out (FIFO) is not always observed, the researchers then recommends a modified Single Queue – Multiple – Serial Server for the PHC which increased the service rate and also encouraged support by other staff during the Ante Natal services.
Keywords: Ante natal, queue, women, pregnant, waiting, service
I.INTRODUCTION
Nigeria’s Maternal Mortality was over 800 deaths per 100,000 live births which was approximated to be 58,000 maternal deaths. The figure accounts for 10 percent of all maternal deaths in the world. The numbers are even more alarming in northeastern Nigeria (World Health Organisation, 2019; Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey Preliminary Report 2019) revealed that lack of antenatal care, trained caregiver at birth, delays in the treatment of complications linked to pregnancy, poverty and low status of women are some of the factors found in Northeastern Nigeria that lead to high maternal mortality (World Health Organization, 2019). Therefore, it is important to look for strategies and interventions that would strengthen maternal, neonatal and infant health more generally in the country and in Nigeria.
Ante Natal Care (ANC) is the treatment that pregnant women get after pregnancy. This treatment requires Registry