Development of a Waiting Time Prediction System for Hospitals

A waiting time prediction system for consultations in hospitals has been developed. The system consists of a main server, control terminals, and monitors for patients, which are controlled using Web applications and Web browsers. The system obtains the following data; time arriving at receptions, examination-start and finish time, and consultation-start and finish time for every patient in real time from other existing medical systems through LAN. Based on these data, the order that doctors consult patients is predicted, and then the waiting times for every patient are estimated in real time. The system was evaluated in a hospital. The average differences between the predicted and actual waiting time were less than 20 minutes for the reserved patients, and less than 60 minutes for non-reserved patients. The predicted waiting times by the system were announced to patients on a display. By interviewing patients, it has been confirmed that the announcement of the waiting time is useful for improving hospital services.