Michalis Panayides

Area of study

Methods

Fellowship level

PhD

Year awarded

2019

Host university

School of Mathematics
Cardiff University

Michalis is a PhD student at Cardiff University with a bachelor’s degree in pure mathematics and a master’s degree in applied statistics and operational research.

Workforce behaviours in healthcare queueing systems: Mathematical modelling informed by ethnographic methods (project complete)

Background

Queuing has become an expected part of healthcare services, and the length of queues in NHS waiting rooms has received a lot of attention. Long patient queues can have an impact on patients receiving care as well as the healthcare staff providing it.

This project will explore the nature of the relationship between service times – influenced by queue length and how healthcare workers cope with them – and staff workload in order to assess and quantify workforce (server) behaviours.

Approach

This project will aim to enhance conventional mathematical models by informing them with ethnographic models, in order to incorporate a behavioural component in the system. Both analytical queuing and simulation models will be developed to consider switching thresholds to allow for multiple-speed service.

Research articles

Panayides, M., Knight, V. and Harper, P. 2023. A game theoretic model of the behavioural gaming that takes place at the EMS – ED interface. European Journal of Operational Research, Volume 305, Issue 3.