Improving services in outdoor patient departments by focusing on process parameters: A simulation approach

The paper examines working of outdoor patient departments in a general hospital. There are several inpatient wards and out-patient departments and hundreds of patients visited the hospital daily for treatment. The place is chaotic and noisy, especially in the morning. The current performance is evaluated and newer ways are identified to measure the performance of the hospital. Various alternatives are evaluated by simulating each of them. As against the commonly held view that there is a shortage of staff in the hospital, it is actually a problem of maintaining discipline and scheduling of staff. Further, there is a need to change the way activities are performed. The paper also suggests ways of measuring process oriented performance of Outdoor Patients Department (OPD) and OPD registration counters.