Simulation application in healthcare services: A case study of the outpatient clinic in the hospital, Ho Chi Minh city

Abstract

Vietnam hospitals are facing overcrowding of patients in outpatient treatment, which caused many problems for the patient because it takes a long time for waiting. Besides that, staffs and facilities are required to operate intensively in outpatient clinics to mitigate with these problems. To cope with the problem, a discrete event simulation is applied, which focus on the process of healthcare, resource allocation, and patient flow to solve the local congestion at the hospital. A comprehensive model is built by using data from the hospital and real-time research and people believe that simulation is an effective problem-solving tool for outpatient clinic; however, this method can be improved in the future. We hope that this model could be applied to reality if it will be rearranged reasonability to deploy whole potential of the hospital. Keywords: Simulation, Healthcare system, Patient flow, Outpatient clinic.