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A Simulation-Based Evaluation Of Efficiency Strategies For A Primary Care Clinic With Unscheduled Visits

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Date Issued:
2016
Abstract/Description:
In the health care industry, there are strategies to remove inefficiencies from the health delivery process called efficiency strategies. This dissertation proposed a simulation model to evaluate the impact of the efficiency strategies on a primary care clinic with unscheduled "walk-in" patient visits. The simulation model captures the complex characteristics of the Orlando Veteran's Affairs Medical Center (VAMC) primary care clinic. This clinic system includes different types of patients, patient paths, and multiple resources that serve them. Added to the problem complexity is the presence of patient no-shows characteristics and unscheduled patient arrivals, a problem which has been until recently, largely neglected. The main objectives of this research were to develop a model that captures the complexities of the Orlando VAMC, evaluate alternative scenarios to work in unscheduled patient visits, and examine the impact of patient flow, appointment scheduling, and capacity management decisions on the performance of the primary care clinic system. The main results show that only a joint policy of appointment scheduling rules and patient flow decisions has a significant impact on the wait time of scheduled patients. It is recommended that in the future the clinic addresses the problem of serving additional walk-in patients from an integrated scheduling and patient flow viewpoint.
Title: A Simulation-Based Evaluation Of Efficiency Strategies For A Primary Care Clinic With Unscheduled Visits.
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Name(s): Bobbie, Afrifah, Author
Karwowski, Waldemar, Committee Chair
Thompson, William, Committee Member
Elshennawy, Ahmad, Committee Member
Mikusinski, Piotr, Committee Member
University of Central Florida, Degree Grantor
Type of Resource: text
Date Issued: 2016
Publisher: University of Central Florida
Language(s): English
Abstract/Description: In the health care industry, there are strategies to remove inefficiencies from the health delivery process called efficiency strategies. This dissertation proposed a simulation model to evaluate the impact of the efficiency strategies on a primary care clinic with unscheduled "walk-in" patient visits. The simulation model captures the complex characteristics of the Orlando Veteran's Affairs Medical Center (VAMC) primary care clinic. This clinic system includes different types of patients, patient paths, and multiple resources that serve them. Added to the problem complexity is the presence of patient no-shows characteristics and unscheduled patient arrivals, a problem which has been until recently, largely neglected. The main objectives of this research were to develop a model that captures the complexities of the Orlando VAMC, evaluate alternative scenarios to work in unscheduled patient visits, and examine the impact of patient flow, appointment scheduling, and capacity management decisions on the performance of the primary care clinic system. The main results show that only a joint policy of appointment scheduling rules and patient flow decisions has a significant impact on the wait time of scheduled patients. It is recommended that in the future the clinic addresses the problem of serving additional walk-in patients from an integrated scheduling and patient flow viewpoint.
Identifier: CFE0006443 (IID), ucf:51462 (fedora)
Note(s): 2016-12-01
Ph.D.
Engineering and Computer Science, Industrial Engineering and Management Systems
Doctoral
This record was generated from author submitted information.
Subject(s): appointment scheduling -- discrete-event simulation -- walk-in patients -- clinic efficiency -- primary care -- design of experiments
Persistent Link to This Record: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006443
Restrictions on Access: public 2016-12-15
Host Institution: UCF

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