Simulation of First Level Health Care Facilities to Reduce Patient Flow Time

Abstract

This paper presented research on the simulation of first-level health care facilities, Community Health Centers managed by the government and the Main Clinic managed by the private sector. The objectives of this study include identifying patient flow times, locations of congestion, and determining scenarios to improve system performance. This paper used a simulation model as a method to developed using a discrete event simulation approach, the study continued with data collection in the form of flow and volume of patient arrivals and service times at each location. By analyzing statistical data from 30 replications, it shows that there are differences in characteristics between the Community Health Center and the Primary Clinic, in the bottle-neck location and the performance of the Main Clinic is better than the Community Health Center, with patients flowing time, respectively 2516.23 seconds and 4881.03 seconds. However, after repairs were made in the bottle neck location at the Community Health Center and Main Clinic, the flow time of patients was almost the same, respectively 1787.81 seconds and 1731.25 seconds. In conclusion, when congestion sites can be identified, improvements are made to reduce patient time flow from two health care facilities, and even show a relatively equal time.