EFFECT OF SIMULATED APPOINTMENT SCHEDULES ON THE OPERATIONAL PERFORMANCE OF A UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CLINIC

Authors

  • Arunn Pisharody Vijayan Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Louisiana State University Baton Rouge, Louisiana
  • Vamsi K V Pusapati Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Louisiana State University Baton Rouge, Louisiana
  • Nandakumar Prabhakar Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Louisiana State University Baton Rouge, Louisiana
  • Fereydoun Aghazadeh Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Louisiana State University Baton Rouge, Louisiana

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.23055/ijietap.2022.29.3.5435

Keywords:

simulation, healthcare, appointment system, wait time, patient, provider

Abstract

High patient wait times, physician idle times, physician overtimes, and patient congestion are common problems encountered in clinics that add to health care costs. This paper investigates the effect of different appointment systems on the operational performance of a university clinic. The process at a student health center was modeled using the Rockwell Arena® simulation software. Individual Block rule, Bailey rule, 3-Bailey rule, and the Two-at-a-time rule were compared using the simulation model to test their effect on performance parameters. The performance parameters were the provider measures and patient measures. The individual block rule was the most patient-friendly with the shortest patient measures. The 3-Bailey rule was the most provider-friendly rule, which resulted in the least provider times. A Kepner-Tregoe analysis shows that the Bailey rule was the most suitable as it had a good trade-off between the patient and provider times compared to the others.

Author Biography

Fereydoun Aghazadeh, Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Louisiana State University Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Industrial engineering, full professor

Published

2022-06-14

How to Cite

Vijayan, A. P. ., Pusapati , V. K. V. ., Prabhakar , N. ., & Aghazadeh, F. (2022). EFFECT OF SIMULATED APPOINTMENT SCHEDULES ON THE OPERATIONAL PERFORMANCE OF A UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CLINIC. International Journal of Industrial Engineering: Theory, Applications and Practice, 29(3). https://doi.org/10.23055/ijietap.2022.29.3.5435

Issue

Section

Service Engineering (Healthcare, etc.)