Modelling and simulating the management of medical outpatient clinics

Previous efforts to model health care clinics point to the value of careful observation of clinics, the derivation of performance criteria and the use of object-oriented models. A computer program, called Medical Outpatient Clinic Simulator, has been developed which simulates the running of medical outpatient clinics in terms of waiting times in clinics for medical staff and patients. The steps of observing clinics, determining their performance criteria, and modelling and simulating them are described in this paper. The modelling highlights the roles undertaken and procedures performed by staff in an object-oriented fashion. Patients may flow through the clinic in either serial or quasi-parallel fashion. The Medical Outpatients Clinic Simulator has been used by management as a tool for testing the effects of changes in running a clinic, and demonstrates the soundness of the modelling and simulation methodology.