Development of a Digital Queue Management System for Enugu State University Teaching Hospital (ESUTH)

Long waiting times and disorganised patient queuing at public hospitals in Nigeria contribute to poor patient experiences, reduced healthcare worker efficiency, and in critical cases, adverse health outcomes resulting from delayed attention. At Enugu State University Teaching Hospital (ESUTH), manual queue management practices have been identified as a major source of patient dissatisfaction and operational bottlenecks across outpatient departments. This study developed a digital queue management system designed to streamline patient flow and waiting time management at ESUTH. The system was implemented using a PHP and MySQL backend with a touchscreen-compatible front-end interface, supporting patient registration, automated queue number generation, department-specific queue routing, and real-time queue status display on digital notice boards positioned within the hospital's waiting areas. Healthcare workers accessed a staff dashboard to call patients, update service status, and generate daily throughput reports. System simulation using modelled patient arrival rates reflective of ESUTH outpatient volumes confirmed that the digital queue system reduced average patient waiting time by an estimated 40% compared to observed manual queue durations. Staff evaluation sessions indicated improved workload visibility and reduced patient-staff friction during peak periods. The study concluded that digital queue management technology is both feasible and urgently needed at ESUTH and similar Nigerian teaching hospitals, with significant potential to improve patient satisfaction and healthcare delivery efficiency when deployed alongside staff orientation programmes.

Keywords: queue management, ESUTH, patient flow, hospital administration, digital health