Effects of Supply Factors on Wait Times

Prior research shows that supply factors, such as supplier capacity, significantly affect the throughput and the wait times within an isolated unit. However, it is doubtful whether the characteristics (i.e., service utilization, capacity, throughput, and wait times) of one unit affect the wait times of subsequent units on the patient flow process. To answer this question, this chapter examines the impact of characteristics of a catheterization unit (CU) on the wait times of a cardiac surgery unit (SU), within the scenario of cardiac care in Ontario, Canada. The work presented in this chapter gives an additional example of using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM)-based analysis to explore whether and how some supply factors affect wait times in a hospital.