Redesigning Patient Flow in Paediatric Eye Clinic For Pandemic Using Simulation

This study proposes a systematic approach to the construction of a simulation model to support decision-making concerning the capacity limit and staffing configurations at the paediatric eye clinic in Singapore under the COVID-19 pandemic situation. During the pandemic, the clinic must ensure that the operations are aligned to the safe-distancing regulations put in place by the Ministry of Health while coping with the demand. We developed simulation models to examine the ‘as-is’ process and proposed numerous ‘to-be’ processes for new clinic configurations to operate under the pandemic conditions. We combined scenario-thinking and simulation optimization to determine the additional manpower and physical resource requirements to enable the decision-makers at the clinic to better plan the necessary for continuous care to the young patients in a populated city, while coping with the healthcare demands during the pandemic.