A hospital administrator reports that the average wait in the eye department is 22 minutes against 47 minutes in the skin department, and concludes that the eye department is the better run of the two. The eye department times each patient from the moment his name is called at the registration counter; the skin department times each patient from the moment he walks in at the gate. What is the administrator taking for granted?

Question

Accepted Answer

That the two averages were taken from the same starting point, so that 22 minutes and 47 minutes are measuring the same stretch of a patient's visit. The skin department's clock starts at the gate and takes in the registration queue; the eye department's starts after that queue is over. The two figures therefore cover different parts of a visit, and the gap between them may be nothing but the difference in where the stopwatch was started. Opening days, the number of patients treated and what patients would prefer leave that mismatch untouched.

Step-by-Step Solution

Master this topic in 30 minutes a day.

More Logical / Critical practice