The aim of this thesis is to first give a brief review of waiting line problems which often is a subject related to queueing theory. Simple counting processes such as the Poisson process and the duration of service time of each customer being exponentially distributed are often taught in a undergraduate or graduate stochastic process course. In this thesis, we will continue discussing such waiting line problems with priority assignment on each customer. This type of queueing processes are called priority queueing models. Patients requiring ER service are triaged and the order of providing service to patients more than often reflects early symptoms and complaints than final diagnoses. Triage systems used in hospitals vary from country to country and region to region. However, the goal of using a triage system is to ensure that the sickest patients are seen first. Such wait line system is much comparable to a priority queueing system in our study. The finite Markov chain imbedding technique is very effective in obtaining the waiting time distribution of runs and patterns. Applying this technique, we are able to obtain the probability distribution of customer wait time of priority queues. The results of this research can be applied directly when studying patient wait time of emergency medical service. Lengthy ER wait time issue often is studied from the view of limited spacing and complications in hospital administration and allocation of resources. In this thesis, we would like to study priority queueing systems by mathematical and probabilistic modeling.

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Thesis (M.S.)--Boston University / The purpose ot this thesis is to compare two groups of patients, namely those who were given an immediate appointment following intake and those who were assigned after a waiting period. The study is confined to patients treated by social workers in the Boston Veterans Administration Mental Hygiene Clinic. It aims to learn what similarities and differences exist between the two groups; the effect ot a waiting period on patient's stay in treatment; and to determine the relationship of a number of factors to length, and outcome of treatment. According to the literature more stress is placed on motivation in relation to patient's sta7 in treatment than another factor. "The major purpose of the intake interview is to determine motivation, which is important in assessing the patient's treatment potential."2 This study is also curious to learn whether there is a relationship between motivation and length of treatment. It is hoped that this study may show what factors indicate further consideration with regard to patients placed on the waiting list.

Many real-world vehicle routing problems are dynamic optimization problems, with customer requests arriving over time, requiring a repeated reoptimization. In this paper, we consider a dynamic vehicle routing problem where one additional customer arrives at a beforehand unknown location when the vehicles are already under way. Our objective is to maximize the probability that the additional customer can be integrated into one of the otherwise fixed tours without violating time constraints. This is achieved by letting the vehicles wait at suitable locations during their tours, thus influencing the position of the vehicles at the time when the new customer arrives. For the cases of one and two vehicles, we derive theoretical results about the best waiting strategies. The general problem is shown to be NP-complete. Several deterministic waiting strategies and an evolutionary algorithm to optimize the waiting strategy are proposed and compared empirically. It is demonstrated that a proper waiting strategy can significantly increase the probability of being able to service the additional customer, at the same time reducing the average detour to serve that customer.

The project is dreamed as a monumental edifice standing beside the rail corridor of South-Western Virginia. Two pairs of towers rise from the earth transitioning from squares to ellipses. The towers are cut mid-ascent to shape an eastern face, orienting the project and the rail traffic beneath. / Master of Architecture

Hensikt: Hensikten med undersøkelsen var å beskrive, og å oppnå større forståelse for, hvordan ventelistepasienter ved Klinikk for ortopedi og revmatologi og pasientrepresentanter fra Brukerutvalget ved St. Olavs Hospital i Trondheim oppfattet ventetiden og kontakten med sykehuset i påvente av undersøkelse og behandling. Kunnskapen skal brukes til å forbedre informasjonen til og kommunikasjonen med ventelistepasientene. Metode: Datainnsamling ble gjort ved 24 individuelle intervju med pasienter fra ventelistene og et gruppeintervju med pasienter i en offisiell rolle som medlemmer av sykehusets Brukerutvalg. Analysen av intervjuene ble gjort med fenomenografisk tilnærming. Resultat: To sammenhengende hovedtema fremkom, der tema om Daglig liv som ventelistepasient dominerte over tema om Informasjon og kommunikasjon i ventetiden. De to tema ble belyst med seks hovedkategorier med til sammen 20 underkategorier som viste at ventelistepasientene opplevde en hverdag med mye smerter og hindringer i forhold til tidligere funksjonsnivå. De var lite opptatt av generell informasjon og hvordan den skriftlige informasjonen så ut. Den informasjon de hadde fått ble oppfattet som grei nok, men inneholdt ikke de opplysninger de hadde behov for. Det viktige var å få personlig, lett forståelig og forklarende informasjon av legen ved den polikliniske undersøkelsen der de eventuelt ble søkt til innleggelse og operasjon; på et tidlig tidspunkt i ventetiden få en konkret operasjonsdato å forholde seg til; få målrettet informasjon om hvordan de kunne forberede seg på operasjonen og tilrettlegge for seg selv etter operasjonen; at det var noen å komme i kontakt med hvis de ønsket det. I tillegg til samsvarende oppfatninger med ventelistepasientene var deltakerne fra Brukerutvalget mer opptatt av og kritisk til informasjonens innhold og form enn pasientene i de 24 individuelle intervjuene. Konklusjon: Pasientene ønsket kontroll over livet i ventetiden ved å få konkret og personlig informasjon om operasjonsdato, hensiktsmessige forberedelser, hva og hvordan i forhold til operasjon og rekonvalesens. Først når dette var oppfylt kunne de vise en begrenset interesse for informasjonens utforming / Aim: The aim of the study was to describe and achieve a greater understanding of how patients on the waiting list for surgery at the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Rheumatology and the group of patient representatives (Brukerutvalget) at St. Olav’s University Hospital in Trondheim experienced the waiting time and the contact with the hospital. The knowledge shall be used to improve the information to and the communication with patients on waiting list. Method: The data collection was done through 24 individual interviews with patients on waiting lists and one group interview with four of the patients having an official role as members of the hospital’s group of user representatives. The analysis of the interviews was done by a phenomenographic approach. Results: Two related main subjects appeared of which the subject of the daily life as a waiting list patient dominated over the subject of the information and communication received during the waiting time. These two subjects were illustrated by six main categories and 20 subcategories which showed that the waiting list patients experienced a daily life with much pain and hindrances compared to their earlier level of functionality. They were to a small degree interested in any general information and how the general information was presented. The information they had received was conceived as satisfactory, but did not contain the information they needed. The important thing was to get personal, easy to understand and well explained information from the doctor during the visit at the outpatient clinic, when they were eventually sought referred to the hospital for admission and operation, to get a fixed time for the operation early in the waiting time, to get systematic information about how to prepare for the operation and how to organize themselves after the operation, and finally that there should be a person to contact if they needed to. In addition to perceptions common with the waitinglist patients the participants from the group of user representatives were more concerned with and critical to the contents and presentation of the information than the patients from the 24 individual interviews. Conclutions: Personal and relevant information was needed to cope with the daily life. Not till the patients knew about a fixed time for the operation, appropriate preparations, the surgery and convalescence they could show a limited interest for the shaping of the information / <p>ISBN 978-91-85721-15-3</p>

This practicum project investigates current emergency department waiting room models and explores how the psychology of waiting can be applied to positively influence the waiting experience. This culmination of research, coupled with concepts of evidence-based design (EBD), precedent research and regional site visits result in an understanding of emergency department waiting that challenges current emergency department design. This knowledge led to the formulation of a theoretical framework and hypothetical design proposal that aims to uncover, identify, and integrate design concepts known to influence emergency department waiting environment satisfaction. / February 2017

Kronisk njursvikt ökar varje år och vid terminal njurinsufficiens ses njurtransplantation som förstaval av behandling. Behovet av donerade njurar är större än tillgången, vilket leder till en lång väntan för individen. Studiens syfte var att beskriva individers upplevelser i väntan på en njurtransplantation. Metoden var en litteraturstudien där tio vetenskapliga artiklar granskades och analyserades. I analysen framkom tre teman som utgjorde resultatet: behandling för att överleva där dialysbehandlingen sågs som en begränsning i livet och gjorde det svårt att leva som dem gjort tidigare, känna hopp där en transplantation var något att hoppas på, ett sätt att ta sig ur dialysen och få tillbaka sitt gamla liv, samt känna hopplöshet där rädsla för att njurtransplantationen aldrig skulle bli av och känslor av att vara på is i väntan uppkom. Slutsatsen är att behandlingen påverkade upplevelsen av väntan och ledde till att livet var på is, det centrala i livet var att få en transplantation som skulle förbättra livet. För att underlätta situationen för individer i väntan på transplantation finns det ett behov av att det forskas på hur sjuksköterskans bemötande kan stötta individer i väntan. / Chronic kidney failure is increasing every year and at end-stage renal disease kidney transplantation is seen as the first choice of treatment. The need for donated kidneys is greater than the supply, leading to a long wait for the individual. The study aimed to describe individuals' experiences while waiting for a kidney transplant. The method was a literature study where ten scientific articles were reviewed and analyzed. The analysis revealed three themes that formed the result: treatment in order to survive where the dialysis treatment was seen as a limitation in life and made ​​it difficult to live as they did before, feel hope where the transplantation was something to hope for, a way to get out of dialysis and regain the old life, and feel hopelessness where fear that the kidney transplant would never happen and feelings of being on hold while waiting arose. The conclusion is that the treatment affected the experience of waiting and it led to the feeling of being on hold, the central focus of life was the transplant that would improve their lives. To improve the situation of people waiting for a transplant, there is a need for research on how nurse's attitude can support individuals in anticipation.

This thesis explores the experiences of applicants for Refugee Status in the United Kingdom who had, at the time of the research, waited for between two and nine years for the conclusion of the asylum process. Despite extensive lamentation of the delays endured by asylum applicants in having their claims assessed, little social scientific scholarship has substantively and critically engaged with this phenomenon, or even with waiting as a universal condition. The present study fills this gap in knowledge, conceptualising waiting as an informative, consequential phase in the quest for protection, hope and security. The study is based on twelve months of participant observation among asylum seekers living in Glasgow under the dispersal regime. Narratives and tacit aspects of everyday life are presented to both draw a multi-dimensional ethnographic picture and acknowledge the asylum seekers’ agency. Their waiting entails a focus on negative and positive, concrete and symbolic objects, which are located in the future. However, their inability to affect or predict the arrival of these objects produces uncertainty and passivity. Asylum seekers narrate overwhelmingly negative experiences of asylum policies, such as dishonouring encounters with immigration authorities; social dislocation; enforced poverty; interrupted life cycles; and an inability to settle and belong in the UK. Yet despite the mutually reinforcing effects of UK policy and of waiting, asylum seekers have benefited from formal support structures provided under Scottish policy. Individuals have been able to re-construct social ties; pursue educational opportunities; enhance personal security; gain greater control over their ‘cases’; and undertake selective socio-cultural adaptation. They have also utilised a discourse of ‘integration’ circulating in Scotland to garner public support for their struggles for recognition and the right to remain. The thesis concludes by reflecting on changes occurring after a form of Leave to Remain was granted, and assesses the extent to which people were able to realise the ‘normal lives’ for which they had been waiting.

Bakgrund: Antalet patienter som väntar på en organ transplantation har ökat stadigt under de senaste årtiondena. En förutsättning till att väntetiderna skall förkortas är att efterfrågan av organ blir mättat. Efterfrågan av organ är större än tillgången, detta medför förlängda väntetider inför en organ transplantation. Patienter som väntar på en organ transplantation blir lidande och detta bidrar till erfarenheter av fysiskt och psykiskt ohälsa. Syfte: Syftet var att beskriva erfarenheterna hos patienter som väntar på en organ transplantation samt att göra en metodologisk granskning av de valda artiklarnas datainsamlingsmetod. Metod: En beskrivande litteraturstudie som har undersökt 13 artiklar, majoriteten av artiklar var av kvalitativ design. Resultat: Patienters erfarenheter av att vänta på en organ transplantation förknippas ofta med känslor som ångest och depression. Patienter upplever att väntetiderna på att få en organ transplantation är långa och erfarenheter är att livet står på paus. Erfarenheter som patienterna upplever är att stöd från närstående och sjukvården har stor betydelse. Även att träffa andra patienter som väntar på en organ transplantation ansågs som ett stöd för patienterna. Patienterna beskrev att erfarenheterna av att få information från sjukvårdspersonalen om sin hälsosituation var av stor betydelse. De valda artiklarnas datainsamlingsmetod bestod av 11 kvalitativa intervjustudier. Två av artiklarna hade kvantitativ ansats där enkäter använts. Slutsats: Patienter som väntar på att genomgå en organ transplantation har ofta erfarenheter av att väntetiderna är långa och med tiden blir patienterna oroliga och rädda. Patienternas erfarenheter av stöd från sjukvårdpersonalen är viktiga för vårdprocessen och att sjuksköterskor därför har ett stort ansvar att anpassa vården efter patientens individuella behov. / Background: The number of patients waiting for an organ transplant has increased steadily for the past decades. A prerequisite for a successful transplantation program is of course that the demand for organs gets saturated by a steady supply of the same. This is unfortunately not the case as the gap between supply and demand is increasing, hence prolonging waiting times and negatively effecting the patients’ health and overall prognosis. Aim: Portrait the experiences of patients waiting for an organ transplant as well as conducting a methodological examination of the data collection method used in a selection of articles. Method: A descriptive literature that has examined 13 articles, the majority of articles were qualitative design. Results: Patients' experiences when waiting for an organ transplant is often associated with feelings such as anxiety and depression. Patients experiencing the waiting time to get an organ transplant as long and the experience is that the patient’s life is paused. Experiences which patients describes is that support from family and healthcare professionals are of great importance. Even to meet with other patients waiting for an organ transplant was considered as a support for patients. Patients described that experience of getting information from medical staff about his health situation was important for the patients. The articles selected data collection method consisted of 11 qualitative interview study. Two of the articles had quantitative design where surveys have been used. Conclusion: Patients waiting to undergo an organ transplant often have experience of waiting times are long and with time these patients are anxious and fearful. The patients experienced the support from medical staff is important to the care process and that nurses therefore have an important responsibility to adapt care to individual patient needs.