A detailed simulation model of an infusion treatment center

Oncology clinics face several complexities in their processes. When patients arrive at the infusion chairs, nurses and pharmacy technicians must be available to get the patients ready for the infusion and mix their drug treatments. This requires having the right information at the right moment. This research develops a detailed discrete event simulation model which considers the interactions between resources, information, and patient flow. The model was used to evaluate different scheduling policies and determine which of them could be incorporated in the clinic with the objective of increasing daily throughput without affecting patient wait time or total time in the system.