Shouldice Hospital Limited
Shouldice Hospital Limited
1. How well is the hospital currently utilizing its beds?
Shouldice Hospital is currently utilizing its beds quite well. Under the Shouldice method, they are operating with 90 beds, admitting 30 patients per day, and not accepting any new patients on Saturdays. Each patient admitted generally stays in the hospital for 3 days and is discharged on the fourth morning. By examining Exhibit 4.7, it is apparent that the hospital’s capacity utilization is roughly 71.43%. On Mondays and Fridays, 60 of the 90 beds are utilized (66%). Tuesdays through Thursdays, all 90 beds are being used (100%), while 30 of the beds are being used on Saturdays and Sundays (33%). If they were using all 90 beds, 7 days a week, they would be admitting 630 patients per week. Using their current process, Shouldice is using 450 beds per week which is 71.43% of their capacity utilization. This is an ideal rate as doctors and staff members are happy while patients are satisfied with the service. Further expansion and an increase to the rate of utilization may cause a decrease in the service quality.
- 90 beds x 7 days a week = 630 beds available in a given week
- 30 patients x 3 days x 5 days per week = 450 beds being used
- 450 beds utilized / 630 available beds = 71.43%
2. Develop a similar table to show the effects of adding operations on Saturday. How would this affect the utilization of the bed capacity? Is this capacity sufficient for the additional patients?
(See spreadsheet attachment for table)
If Shouldice adds operations on Saturdays, they would be adding 30 more beds to Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays respectively. As a result, the total number of beds used over the course of a week would increase by 90; making it 540 beds. The utilization rate would become 85.71% (540/630 = 85.71%). Therefore, it can be concluded that the utilization of bed capacity would increase by adding one more day of operation on Saturdays. However, it
1. How well is the hospital currently utilizing its beds?
Shouldice Hospital is currently utilizing its beds quite well. Under the Shouldice method, they are operating with 90 beds, admitting 30 patients per day, and not accepting any new patients on Saturdays. Each patient admitted generally stays in the hospital for 3 days and is discharged on the fourth morning. By examining Exhibit 4.7, it is apparent that the hospital’s capacity utilization is roughly 71.43%. On Mondays and Fridays, 60 of the 90 beds are utilized (66%). Tuesdays through Thursdays, all 90 beds are being used (100%), while 30 of the beds are being used on Saturdays and Sundays (33%). If they were using all 90 beds, 7 days a week, they would be admitting 630 patients per week. Using their current process, Shouldice is using 450 beds per week which is 71.43% of their capacity utilization. This is an ideal rate as doctors and staff members are happy while patients are satisfied with the service. Further expansion and an increase to the rate of utilization may cause a decrease in the service quality.
- 90 beds x 7 days a week = 630 beds available in a given week
- 30 patients x 3 days x 5 days per week = 450 beds being used
- 450 beds utilized / 630 available beds = 71.43%
2. Develop a similar table to show the effects of adding operations on Saturday. How would this affect the utilization of the bed capacity? Is this capacity sufficient for the additional patients?
(See spreadsheet attachment for table)
If Shouldice adds operations on Saturdays, they would be adding 30 more beds to Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays respectively. As a result, the total number of beds used over the course of a week would increase by 90; making it 540 beds. The utilization rate would become 85.71% (540/630 = 85.71%). Therefore, it can be concluded that the utilization of bed capacity would increase by adding one more day of operation on Saturdays. However, it