Question

Arrivals and departures to C&A Optometrist are collected and reported below:

Patient	Arrival	Departure
1	7:45	8:45
2	8:00	9:00
3	10:00	10:30
4	10:15	11:45
5	10:35	12:00

Assume C&A Optometrist is open from 7:45 a.m. to noon. How many patients on average are in C&A Optometrist?

Answer 1

The C&A Optometrist is open from 7:45 am to noon. It means the time that Optometrist is opened is calculated as shown below: Patient Arrival Departure Service time (minutes) 60 7:45 8:00 10:00 10:15 10:35 8:45 9:00 10:30 11:45 12:00 Total time 325 It means the number of hours that the Optometrist is open is for 4 hours 25 mins. The number of patients during the total service time is 5 patients. Calculate the flow rate in patients per hour as shown below: Flow rate per hour = Number of patients Total service time (hours) 3 4.25 = 1.176 Calculate the flow time per patient as shown below: Flow time Number of patients 60 Flow time per patient = 325 = 1.083 Calculate the average number of patients in C&A Optometrist as shown below: Average number of patients = Flow rate per hour x Flow time per patient =1.176 x 1.083 = 1.27 Therefore, the average number of patients in C&A Optometrist are 1.27.