Section 2. Manufacturing, Service, and Health Care Processes.
1. How well is the hospital currently utilizing its beds?
2. Develop a similar table to show the effects of adding
operations on Saturday. (Assume that 30 operations would still be performed
each day.) How would this affect the utilization of the bed capacity? Is this
capacity sufficient for the additional patients?
3. Now look at the effect of increasing the number of beds
by 50 percent. How many operations could the hospital perform per day before
running out of bed capacity? (Assume operations are performed five days per
week, with the same number performed on each day.) How well would the new
resources be utilized relative to the current operation? Could the hospital
really perform this many operations? Why? (Hint: Look at the capacity of the 12
surgeons and the five operating rooms.).
4. Although financial data are sketchy, an estimate from a
construction company indicates that adding bed capacity would cost about
$100,000.00 per bed .In addition, the rate charged for the hernia surgery
varies between about $900 and $2,000 (US dollars), with an average rate of
$1,300 per operation. The surgeons are paid a flat $600 per operation. Due to
the uncertainties in government health care legislation. Shouldice Hospital
would like to justify an expansion from 90 beds to 135 beds within a five-year
time period.
