Teleconsultation demand classification and service analysis

Table 5 The teleconsultation service analysis under the fixed strategies

Service	Demand
Service	All	Erratic	Lumpy	Lumpy	Slow
Fixed strategy (FS)	2 Services/week	4 Services/week	3 Services/week	2 Services/week	1 Service/ week
Ideal service times	190	380	285	190	95
Service day	Wednesdays and Fridays	Mondays to Thursdays, and Saturdays	Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays	Tuesdays, Fridays	The next day of the demand day
Mean waiting time (h) under the FS	33.14	9.15	17.41	29.46	29.44

(1) Ideal service times = (Service times/week) * (weeks). During the observed period, there are 99 weeks and four 7-day holidays (two Spring Festival and two National Day). Because teleconsultation demand on holidays almost decreases to zero, the number of weeks providing service is 95. (2) Waiting time depends on the demand arriving time and the service providing time. Considering the time distributions of teleconsultation demand arriving and service providing in Additional file 1: Figs. A2 and A3, 5:00 p.m. is set as the service time to calculate the waiting time. On Saturdays, the service time is noon

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