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Using discrete-event simulation in strategic capacity planning for an outpatient physical therapy service

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Abstract

This study uses a simulation model as a tool for strategic capacity planning for an outpatient physical therapy clinic in Taipei, Taiwan. The clinic provides a wide range of physical treatments, with 6 full-time therapists in each session. We constructed a discrete-event simulation model to study the dynamics of patient mixes with realistic treatment plans, and to estimate the practical capacity of the physical therapy room. The changes in time-related and space-related performance measurements were used to evaluate the impact of various strategies on the capacity of the clinic. The simulation results confirmed that the clinic is extremely patient-oriented, with a bottleneck occurring at the traction units for Intermittent Pelvic Traction (IPT), with usage at 58.9 %. Sensitivity analysis showed that attending to more patients would significantly increase the number of patients staying for overtime sessions. We found that pooling the therapists produced beneficial results. The average waiting time per patient could be reduced by 45 % when we pooled 2 therapists. We found that treating up to 12 new patients per session had no significantly negative impact on returning patients. Moreover, we found that the average waiting time for new patients decreased if they were given priority over returning patients when called by the therapists.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by National Taipei University for the Technology-Taipei Medical University Joint Research Program (Grant: NTUT-TMU-100-14). The authors would like to thank the senior therapist Mr. Jiunn-Der Liao and the entire staff from the participating hospital for their assistance and support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Biomedical Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan

    Chi-Lun Rau & Fu-Shan Jaw

  2. Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Shuang Ho Hospital, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan

    Chi-Lun Rau

  3. Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, National Taipei University of Technology, Taipei, Taiwan

    Pei-Fang Jennifer Tsai, Sheau-Farn Max Liang, Jhih-Cian Tan, Hong-Cheng Syu, Yue-Ling Jheng & Ting-Syuan Ciou

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  1. Chi-Lun Rau
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  2. Pei-Fang Jennifer Tsai
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Correspondence to Pei-Fang Jennifer Tsai.

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Rau, CL., Tsai, PF.J., Liang, SF.M. et al. Using discrete-event simulation in strategic capacity planning for an outpatient physical therapy service. Health Care Manag Sci 16, 352–365 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10729-013-9234-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10729-013-9234-2

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