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http://dx.doi.org/10.9717/kmms.2019.22.7.804

Patient Flow Optimization for Outpatient Department Using Discrete-Event Simulation  

Dieu, Xuan-Manh (Dept. of Information and Communication System, Inje University)
Hoang, Huu-Trung (Dept. of Information and Communication System, Inje University)
Kim, Jung Eon (Dept. of Emergency Medicine, Inje University, Ilsan Paik Hospital)
Kim, Hoon (Dept. of Emergency Medicine, Inje University, Ilsan Paik Hospital)
Park, Junseok (Dept. of Emergency Medicine, Inje University, Ilsan Paik Hospital)
Hwang, Won-Joo (Dept. of Electronic, Telecommunications, Mechanical Automotive Engineering, Inje University)
Publication Information
Abstract
The patient's waiting time and length of stay have been reported as a factor decreasing their satisfaction in the hospital, especially in developing countries. This paper focuses on modeling hospital's outpatient department workflow in a developing country and optimizing the patient waiting time as well as total length of stay. By using discrete-event simulation, many alternative scenarios have raised, such as adding more working time, altering human resources, and adjusting the staff's responsibility, those scenarios will be examined to explore better settings for the hospital. The results show that possible to achieve a 9.6% reduction in patient total length of stay and it could be accomplished without adding more resources to the hospital.
Keywords
Discrete-event Simulation; Outpatient Department; Workflow Optimization;
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