Process / pipelineOperations research, Service management

Queuing Theory in Healthcare

Queuing theory is a mathematical discipline that models waiting lines, service capacity, and customer (patient) flow. Developed initially by Agner Erlang for telecommunications in 1909, it has been extensively applied to healthcare to analyze and optimize emergency departments, outpatient clinics, surgical suites, and diagnostic service centers.

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Sources

  1. Erlang, A. K. (1909). The theory of probabilities and telephone conversations. Nyt Tidsskrift for Matematik, 20(B), 33–39. link
  2. Kendall, D. G. (1953). Stochastic processes occurring in the theory of queues and their application to the theory of failures. Annals of Mathematical Statistics, 24(3), 338–354. DOI: 10.1214/aoms/1177728975
  3. Gross, D., Shortle, J. F., Thompson, J. M., & Harris, C. M. (2008). Fundamentals of Queuing Theory (4th ed.). John Wiley & Sons. DOI: 10.1002/9781118693469

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ScholarGateQueuing Theory in Healthcare (Queuing Theory for Healthcare Service Management and Wait Time Analysis). Retrieved 2026-06-04 from https://scholargate.app/en/healthcare-management/queuing-theory-healthcare