Track: Service Systems and Management

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way the world operates, forcing nations to adopt new procedures to combat the spread of the coronavirus while concurrently maintaining economic activity. During the pandemic, several countries implemented systems and processes to screen travelers who legally entered their borders before allowing them to intermingle with the general population. The Caribbean, which depends heavily on tourism, is no exception. While the primary goal of a screening process is to protect the local population from disease spread, a secondary goal should be to ensure traveler satisfaction in terms of timeliness, accuracy, agility, and cost-effectiveness of the logistics of the process. This paper primarily addresses the latter goal by proposing a multidisciplinary approach to improve the logistics of a COVID-19 screening process in a small island state. The recommendations are based on the absence of key disciplinary areas and perceived skill gaps between the professional cadre and workforce, and the computer and digital literacy of the nation. A lean six sigma framework is used to demonstrate how a structured methodology can be applied to implement the potential solutions.