When a patient enters the Valley Health Clinical Laboratory to have his blood drawn and a Chemistry Panel and CBC run, he spends, on average 2 minutes at patient check-in, 45 minutes in the waiting area, 5 minutes having his medical history updated, and 8 minutes having his blood taken. Show all work and explain any assumptions you made in coming up with your answer.
1. If the clinical laboratory has 3 full-time Med Techs, operates 8 hours per day and demand is 75 patients per day, what is the takt time? Assume the med techs take a 30-minute lunch.
2. Can the Valley Health Clinical Laboratory meet the demand? Yes or No
3. Explain your choice of answer to the preceding question.
4. What could be done to improve the Valley Health Clinical Laboratory process?