Evaluating the effect of centralized administration on health care performances using discrete-event simulation
2017 (English)In: PICMET 2017 - Portland International Conference on Management of Engineering and Technology: Technology Management for the Interconnected World, Proceedings, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) , 2017, p. 1-6Conference paper, Published paper (Refereed)
Abstract [en]
Patient flow management is increasingly motivated by the request to improve system performance. The improvements on local departments are expected with minimal negative effects on the upstream and downstream departments which are integral parts of the care pathway. Although it is widely debated that hospital buildings are expensively constructed and operated, we observe a lack of efforts on the logistical efficiency of care provision within facilities in hospitals, especially in developing areas. This askes for more research attentions towards the knowledge gap between health care supply and demand. Our work presented a simulation-based approach to study the impact of centralized administrative works by evaluating waiting times of services and resource utilizations. A discrete-event simulation (DES) model was constructed in reference to a hospital complex in Jiangsu, China. The results showed that the centralized administration benefited patients regarding a reduced total length of stay and waiting times of administration; however, reorganizing administration also influenced waiting times of medical services and resource utilizations of different types of facilities. Neglecting administration in care pathway might yield to unclear knowledge of their impacts. This article can also support the inclusion of simulation in the strategic planning phase of health care projects.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) , 2017. p. 1-6
Keywords [en]
Economics, Health care, Hospitals, Centralized administration, Hospital buildings, Hospital complexes, Knowledge gaps, Medical services, Resource utilizations, Simulation based approaches, Supply and demand, Discrete event simulation
National Category
Health Care Service and Management, Health Policy and Services and Health Economy
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-302096DOI: 10.23919/PICMET.2017.8125405ISI: 000419843900159Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85043471279OAI: oai:DiVA.org:kth-302096DiVA, id: diva2:1597461
Conference
2017 Portland International Conference on Management of Engineering and Technology, PICMET 2017, Portland, 9-13 July 2017
Note
QC 20210927
2021-09-272021-09-272022-09-22Bibliographically approved