Shouldice hospital is a leader in treating patients who suffer from Hernia. Shouldice achieved outstanding performance and reputation through its distinguished services to customers in terms of cost, quality, delivery and flexibility Cost: At Shouldice, Operating cost is not the only cost factor that attract customers. Besides, typical operation cost (including the patients stay at hospital) ranges from only $954 to $1029 compared to a total of $2,000 to $4,000 elsewhere.
Even if we consider the transportation charges for patients who came to Shouldice from outside of Canada, it cost them less compared to the operating cost alone at other hospitals. Apart from this, Shouldice has various pre operation procedures that save the customer a lot of money. We can also consider the opportunity cost that the patients have saved as it takes only 4 days to recover at Shouldice rather than 8 to 10 days at other hospitals. Quality: One of the most important factors that have been the backbone for customer satisfaction is the supreme Quality of service.
Shouldice hospital has unique operation technique, high success rate of the operations, and professionally designed process from remote examination to Post Operation recovery. For Pre Operation examinations conducted on patients in order to determine if the patient is really suffering from Hernia, If yes, are there any potential risks that the patient might have to face if he undergoes the operation? , Housekeeping facilities, nursing care are some of the major factors that are adding value to customer in Quality perspective. Delivery: Customers like the way Shouldice operates as a hospital.
Patients are accepted from all across the globe. There is a lot of communication that happens between a patient and a doctor even before the patient arrives at the hospital. Such a process is extremely helpful for customers living outside Canada. Every activity within the hospital is so smoothly organized that patients never feel any sort of pressure. Flexibility: Apart from providing the usual hospital services, Shouldice adopted various attractive policies which have had a high positive influence on the customers. It created a friendly environment that helps the patients to lose their fear and make new friends.
It even allows the parents to stay with their children to provide moral support. It organizes an alumni meet every year and gives free medical consultations to its patients as well as others. Solution for Q 2: Characteristics of Operations that have contributed towards the success of Shouldice can be categorized into 2 major areas. Internal Characteristics: Services: Shouldice is best known for its physician and nursing care. Due to its unique operating style it has developed its own criteria that the doctors and nurses need to possess. So, it recruits its doctors and nurses very carefully.
Counseling activities are provided for patients to keep up their morale high. The staff and the patients have a common dining area which gives the patients an opportunity to interact with doctors and other patients. Quality: Shouldice pursuit an extremely high standard of service quality. The success rate of operations is very good and there is a lot of flexibility for the doctors to interact in case of any complexity during the operations. Administration: The admission process for the patients is very organized. There is a lot of screening that is done prior to the operation for each patient.
Medical information questionnaire, alumni meet, free annual check-up are some of the unique policies that Shouldice adopted that increased its reputation. External Characteristics: Location: Shouldice is located in a large city near the airport which provides it an indirect advantage through international patients. Even if there are any cancelled appointments, there are 1200 appointments that are waiting in queue which clearly shows that it has a location advantage. Solution for Q 3: The weekly capacity (parents per week) (Calculations given in Appendix) (1)Examination Rooms:263.
5 people/week (2)Nurse’s Stations:203 people/week (3)Operating Rooms:160 people/week Solution for Q 4: From the Appendix: Weekly Capacity of examination room: 263. 5 people Weekly Capacity of Accounting office: 155 people Weekly Capacity of Nurse station: 203 people Weekly Capacity of Operation room: 160 people. Weekly Hospital Bed Capacity: 111. 25 Referring to the results from the calculations in appendix, and the given information that Hospital is operating nearly 137 people per week, we can conclude that maximum capacity of the hospital beds per week is 111.
25(refer to Appendix 2). So, the bottle neck resource of Shouldice is the capacity room which contains only 89 beds. Also, if the doctors work on Saturday’s , the patients who arrive on Fridays can be operated on Saturdays which will force the patients to leave on Tuesday morning instead of Thursday morning and give space for patients who arrive on Tuesday. Appendix1: Process Flow chart Appendix2: Calculation Details The weekly capacity (parents per week) (1)Examination Rooms:263. 5 people/week (2)Nurse’s Stations:203 people/week (3)Operating Rooms:160 people/week.
1. Examination Room Flow Time:17. 5min/people Flow Rate:1/17. 5/60=3. 43 people/hour Time Span*:180-10-10-7. 5=152. 5 min Capacity:3. 43*6 = 20. 6 people/hour 20. 6*153. 5/60 = 52. 7 people/day 52. 7*5 = 263. 5 people/week *Assumption: open time from 1pm to 4pm, minus accounting office waiting time (10min) – accounting process time (10min) – Nurse station time (7. 5min) 2. Accounting Office Flow Time:10 min/people Flow Rate:6 people/hour Time Span*:180-17. 5-7. 5=155 min Capacity:6*2 = 12 people/hour 155/60*12 = 31 people/day 155 people/week.
*Assumption: open time from 1pm to 4pm, minus examination room flow time (17. 5 min) – Nurse station time (7. 5min) 3. Nurse Station Flow Time:7. 5 min/people Flow Rate:8 people/hour Time Span*:180-17. 5-10 = 152. 5 min Capacity:8*2 = 16 people/hour 152. 5/60*16 = 40. 7 people/day 203 people/week *Assumption: open time from 1pm to 4pm, minus examination room flow time (17. 5 min) – accounting process time (10 min) 4. Operation room Flow Time*:(60*0. 82+90*0. 18) = 65. 4 min/people Flow Rate:0. 92 people/hour Time span**:7 hour Capacity:0. 92*5 = 4.
6 people/hour 4. 6*7 = 32 people/day 32*5 = 160 people/week *Time for Primaries Surgery60 min (45 + 15min interval) *Time for Recurrences Surgery90 min (75 + 15min interval) **Assumption: lunch time 1hr and 0. 5hr team break Weekly Capacity of Hospital Beds: No of Hospital beds available: 89 **Assumption: Equal number of patients arrives to the hospital daily Consider that if there are only 4 beds, maximum capacity of the hospital would be 5. So, If we consider 89 beds, Maximum capacity of the hospital would be (89/4)*5=111. 25 MTWRFSSMTWRFSSMTWRFSS.