Analysis of factors causing long patient waiting time and clinic overtime in outpatient clinics.
This paper is focused on the factors causing long patient waiting time/clinic overtime in outpatient clinics and how to mitigate them using discrete event simulation. A two-week period of data collection is conducted in an outpatient clinic of a Singapore government hospital. Detailed time study from patient arrival to patient departure is conducted, and the possible factors causing long patient waiting time/clinic overtime are discussed. A discrete simulation model is constructed to illustrate how to improve the clinic performance by mitigating the detected factors. Simulation and implementation results show that significant improvement is achieved if the factors are well addressed.
Zhu
Zhecheng
Z
National Healthcare Group, Singapore, Singapore. zhecheng_zhu@nhg.com.sg
Heng
Bee Hoon
BH
Teow
Kiok Liang
KL
D000554:Ambulatory Care Facilities / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D001071:Appointments and Schedules; D003198:Computer Simulation; D017598:Efficiency, Organizational; D006801:Humans; D010044:Outpatient Clinics, Hospital / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010561:Personnel Staffing and Scheduling; D012846:Singapore; D013997:Time Factors; D014850:Waiting Lists; D057188:Workflow; D016526:Workload