title: Improving the efficiency of physical examination services.
abstract: The objective of our project was to improve the efficiency of the physical examination screening service of a large hospital system. We began with a detailed simulation model to explore the relationships between four performance measures and three decision factors. We then attempted to identify the optimal physician inquiry starting time by solving a goal-programming problem, where the objective function includes multiple goals. One of our simulation results shows that the proposed optimal physician inquiry starting time decreased patient wait times by 50% without increasing overall physician utilization.
authors: Department of Industrial Engineering, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan, Republic of China. wheyming@ie.nthu.edu.tw
authors: Wheyming Tina
authors: WT
authors: Song
authors: Mingchang
authors: M
authors: Chih
authors: Aaron E
authors: AE
authors: Bair
mesh_terms: D001071:Appointments and Schedules; D003198:Computer Simulation; D006801:Humans; D010044:Outpatient Clinics, Hospital / Q000458:organization & administration*; D010808:Physical Examination; D020399:Practice Management; D057188:Workflow