Title
A Simulation-Based Planning Methodology For Decreasing Patient Waiting Times In Pure Walk-In Clinics
Abstract
This article presents a simulation-based planning methodology that aims to improve patient service quality in pure walk-in clinics. Capacity planning is one of the major challenges in walk-in clinics because of the uncertainty in both patient demand and arrival times. This work presents a discrete-event simulation model for walk-in clinics that takes into consideration patient behavior in terms of arrival times for capacity planning at the clinic level. The goal of the model is to provide a tool that will allow clinics to develop protocols that will reduce patient waiting times by scheduling doctor and medical assistants considering demand uncertainties. A case study is presented to illustrate the benefits of the methodology. The results of the computational study show that by allocating the right number of resources at particular times of the day, walk-in clinics can achieve operational steady state while providing services to patients with minimum waiting times. The tool can be adapted and used to support any walk-in clinic.
Year
DOI
Venue
2020
10.4018/IJISSS.2020070103
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS IN THE SERVICE SECTOR
Keywords
DocType
Volume
Design Of Experiments, Discrete Event Simulation, Healthcare, Service Quality, Waiting Times, Walk-In Clinics
Journal
12
Issue
ISSN
Citations 
3
1935-5688
0
PageRank 
References 
Authors
0.34
0
3
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Eduardo Perez100.34
Vivekanand Anandhan200.34
Clara Novoa3715.34