Client Flow Analysis

Each user who arrives at the center on the morning of January 20th is greeted by the receptionist, who fills out a Client Flow Form when the user registers and assigns the user a number in sequence.

Completed Client Flow Form

Client Number	01	Date: Jan. 20, 1999
Time of Client's Arrival in Clinic	8:00
Clinic	Santa Rosa Health Center
Type of Visit	First

Next, as each staff member serves a user, they indicate the time they started and completed their service.

Client Contact	Type of Staff	Service Started	Service completed	Total Service Time
First Contact	Registration Clerk	8:00	8:03	3 min.
Second Contact	Nurse	8:22	8:29	7 min.
Third Contact	Doctor	8:30	8:35	5 min.

Once all the Client Flow Forms are complete for the patients who arrived at the center on the morning of January 20th, the team summarizes the data from all the forms in a Client Flow Summary Table.

Client No.	Time In	Time Out	Total Minutes	Contact Minutes	Waiting Time	Percent Waiting Time	Visit Code
1	8:00	8:35	35 min.	15 min.	20 min.	57%	First
2	8:00	9:08	68	37	31	46%	First
3	8:00	9:32	92	29	63	68%	Revisit
4	8:05	10:00	115	33	82	71%	First
5	8:07	10:34	147	26	121	82%	Revisit
6	8:10	10:55	165	27	138	84%	First

Summary Analysis of Client Flow
Average Time in Clinic: 138 min.
Average Waiting Time: 115 min.
Average Contact Time: 23 min.
% Time in Contact with Staff: 17%
% Time Waiting: 83%

Next, the team drew a chart that graphically depicts client flow as it occurred during this one morning at the health center.

The graph clearly shows that the waiting time increases with each user, rising to an unacceptable level as the morning progresses.