Analyzing the queuing theory at the emergency department at King Hussein cancer center

OBJECTIVES: This study was conducted in 2022 at King Hussein Cancer Center (KHCC) to analyze the queuing theory approach at the Emergency Department (ED) to estimate patients’ wait times and predict the accuracy of the queuing theory approach. METHODS: According to the statistics, the peak months were July and August, with peak hours from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. The study sample was a week in July 2022, during the peak days and hours. This study measured patients’ wait times at these three stations: the health informatics desk, triage room, and emergency bed area. RESULTS: The average number of patients in line at the health informatics desk was not more than 3, and the waiting time was between 1 and 4 min. Since patients were receiving the service immediately in the triage room, there was no waiting time or line because the nurse’s role ended after taking the vital signs and rating the patient’s disease acuity. Using equations of queuing theory and other relativistic equations in the emergency bed area gave different results. The queuing theory approach showed that the average residence time in the system was between 4 and 10 min. CONCLUSIONS: Conversely, relativistic equations (ratios of served patients and departed patients and other related variables) demonstrated that the average residence time was between 21 and 36 min. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12873-023-00778-x.