Even though patients often arrive early and out of turn for scheduled appointments in outpatient clinics, no research has been undertaken to establish whether an available provider should see an early patient right away (preempt) or wait for the patient scheduled next. This problem, which we...

Even though it is well known that patients often arrive early and out of turn for scheduled appointments in outpatient clinics, no research has been undertaken to establish whether an idle provider should see an early patient right away (preempt) or wait for the patient scheduled next. In...

Even though patients often arrive early and out of turn for scheduled appointments in outpatient clinics, no research has been undertaken to establish whether an available provider should see an early patient right away (preempt) or wait for the patient scheduled next. This problem, which we...