An Application Of Simulation And Optimization To Outpatient Appointment Scheduling Systems, A Case Study Of Healthy Care Clinics In Ho Chi Minh City

Abstract

This thesis introduces the use of discrete event simulation modelling to improve working process of an orthopedic clinic in Ho Chi Minh City. In business service, long waiting time is the one of the most critical factors of achieving customers’ satisfaction. In particular, private clinic is a common way for patients to access healthcare service, providing early booking to reduce the waiting time, meeting the demand of busy patients. In another perspective, with the demand increases over time, long waiting time in inevitable. The studied private clinic is effective in treating patient, but the dissatisfaction comes from long waiting time creates bad service to the customers and staffs’ morale issues. The thesis aims at identify the cause of the problem and propose an optimize solution. Simulation models has proved to produce an approximate current state model of the clinic and detail about where the issues occur. Based on the result of the simulation model, an optimize tool was applied to produce an efficient appointment scheduling which show significant reduction in waiting time of patients.