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Simulation of Appointment Scheduling Policies: a Study in a Bariatric Clinic

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Abstract

Purpose

Appointment scheduling systems traditionally book patients at fixed intervals, without taking into account the complexity factors of the health system. This paper analyzes several appointment scheduling policies of the literature and proposes the most suitable to a bariatric surgery clinic, considering the following complexity factors: (i) stochastic service times, (ii) patient unpunctuality, (iii) service interruptions, and (iv) patient no-shows.

Materials and Methods

We conducted the study using data collected in a bariatric surgery clinic located in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The dataset presented 1468 appointments from June 29, 2015, to June 29, 2016. We comparatively evaluate the main literature policies through a discrete event simulation (DES).

Results

The proposed policy (IICR) provides a 30% increase in attendance and allows a decrease in the total cost, maintaining the level of service in terms of average waiting time.

Conclusion

IICR was successfully implemented, and the practical results were very close to the simulated ones.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank all the clinic staff for their help with data collection.

Funding

This work was supported by the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) [grant numbers 306802/2015-5 and 403863/2016-3 to SH; 304843/2016-4 to FLCO; 311316/2018-2 to SDJB], Carlos Chagas Filho Foundation (FAPERJ) [grant number 202.673/2018 to FLCO], the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES)—Finance Code 001, and the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Industrial Engineering, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, Rua Marquês de São Vicente, 225 - Gávea, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, 22451-900, Brazil

    Igor Tona Peres, Sílvio Hamacher & Fernando Luiz Cyrino Oliveira

  2. Department of Informatics, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, Rua Marquês de São Vicente, 225 - Gávea, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, 22451-900, Brazil

    Simone Diniz Junqueira Barbosa

  3. Institute of Gastro and Obesity Surgery, Rua Paulo Barreto, 73, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, 22280-010, Brazil

    Fábio Viegas

Authors
  1. Igor Tona Peres
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  2. Sílvio Hamacher
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  3. Fernando Luiz Cyrino Oliveira
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  4. Simone Diniz Junqueira Barbosa
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  5. Fábio Viegas
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Correspondence to Fábio Viegas.

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This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors. For this type of study, formal consent is not required.

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Peres, I.T., Hamacher, S., Cyrino Oliveira, F.L. et al. Simulation of Appointment Scheduling Policies: a Study in a Bariatric Clinic. OBES SURG 29, 2824–2830 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11695-019-03898-1

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