DocumentCode :
3271900
Title :
An application of discrete-event simulation to an outpatient healthcare clinic with batch arrivals
Author :
Findlay, Michael ; Grant, Hank
Author_Institution :
Univ. of Oklahoma, Norman, OK, USA
fYear :
2011
fDate :
11-14 Dec. 2011
Firstpage :
1166
Lastpage :
1177
Abstract :
An application of discrete-event simulation is performed on an unique outpatient primary care clinic serving a military population at Fort Sill, OK. Access to the clinic is on an exclusively walk-in basis. Arrivals occur primarily in batches; arrival times and batch sizes are stochastic in nature. The nursing and medical staffs available each day also follow a stochastic process. The arrival process is characterized through discrete distributions. Several alternatives are modeled to examine procedural changes that may result in improved patient flow and provider utilization. A hybrid appointment/walk-in model was determined to have the best promise for improvement, but the possible benefits it may yield do not seem to justify the costs of its implementation in this setting. Possible applications of the hybrid model to other facilities such as urgent care facilities are discussed.
Keywords :
discrete event simulation; health care; patient care; personnel; statistical distributions; stochastic processes; Fort Sill; Oklahoma; USA; batch arrival; discrete distribution; discrete-event simulation; hybrid appointment/walk-in model; medical staff; military population; nursing staff; outpatient healthcare clinic; outpatient primary care clinic; patient flow; provider utilization; stochastic arrival time; stochastic batch size; stochastic process; urgent care facility; walk-in clinic access basis; Biomedical imaging; Correlation; Data models; Jacobian matrices; Training; X-ray imaging;
fLanguage :
English
Publisher :
ieee
Conference_Titel :
Simulation Conference (WSC), Proceedings of the 2011 Winter
Conference_Location :
Phoenix, AZ
ISSN :
0891-7736
Print_ISBN :
978-1-4577-2108-3
Electronic_ISBN :
0891-7736
Type :
conf
DOI :
10.1109/WSC.2011.6147839
Filename :
6147839
Link To Document :
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