Assessment of Hospital Operations in an Outpatient Department through Simulation Model

Long waiting time in hospitals is one of the main causes of patient dissatisfaction. In outpatient departments (OPD), they follow a first in first out rule wherein patients who arrive earliest are the first ones to be accommodated. Due to the fact that patients arrive unpredictably in the OPD, doctor schedules must be addressed accordingly to accommodate all entering patients while observing the maximum 3-hour turnaround time. The study was conducted at a pediatric hospital in Manila, Philippines. The researchers used a service blueprint to show the interaction of patients and hospital staff and identify the problem areas in the system. Statistical analysis was used to determine if there is a significant difference between different factors (gender and age) with queuing indicators (general pedia and specialized). After having analyzed the data, the researchers discovered that there is a significant difference in the waiting times and service times of general pedia and specialized. Simulation was used to compare the different scenarios (current and proposed scenarios for peak and non-peak months). For the hospital to assign the right number of doctors needed, a schedule of doctors and an appointment scheduling system were proposed. The researchers have concluded that the outpatient department of the pediatric hospital has areas in which they need to improve on to attain higher patient satisfaction.