Improving patient timeliness of care through efficient outpatient clinic layout design using data-driven simulation...

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Operations Research
• Clinical Informatics
• Facility Design

Background:

• Increasing demand for outpatient services necessitates improved clinic efficiency.
• Patient-centric design is crucial for enhancing the timeliness and quality of care.
• Optimizing clinic layout impacts patient flow and overall experience.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose a novel simulation-optimisation (SO) framework for paediatric orthopaedic outpatient clinic design.
• To enhance patient-centricity by optimizing physical and process flows.
• To improve the timeliness of patient care through efficient clinic layout.

Main Methods:

• Developed a discrete-event simulation model to quantify patient movement frequencies.
• Integrated simulation outputs into a mixed integer programming (MIP) model for layout optimization.
• Employed Particle Swarm Optimisation (PSO) with heuristics to solve the MIP model.
• Validated optimization results using the simulation model.

Main Results:

• The SO framework effectively optimizes clinic layout design for paediatric orthopaedic settings.
• Simulation-optimisation methods demonstrated potential for improving patient experience quality.
• The proposed framework successfully balances physical and process flow considerations.

Conclusions:

• Simulation-optimisation is a valuable approach for designing patient-centric healthcare facilities.
• Optimized clinic layouts can significantly enhance the timeliness of outpatient care.
• Integrating SO methods leads to improved patient satisfaction and operational efficiency.