ABSTRACT
More doctors would like to work parttime. Since research on fitting healthcare system design with the structure of parttime jobs is lacking, we studied how parttime work for medical doctors could be enabled from a system design perspective. A theoretical analysis was performed, illustrated by two case studies. We conclude that introducing parttime work can provide the opportunity for improving system design and, therewith, performance. From the case studies it seems that work redesign can enable parttime work, and at the same time improve system performance. Better managing variability in the system contributed to this. The case studies results also showed that systems characterized by different levels of variability fit with different work contracts.
Subject(s)
Delivery of Health Care/organization & administration , Personnel Staffing and Scheduling , Physicians/supply & distribution , Humans , United StatesABSTRACT
In this paper we demonstrate how discrete event simulation technique can be used to optimise the use of catheterization capacity. The patient flow at the catheterization room is described. A simulation model of the current situation was built in MedModel, a discrete event simulation package, and the model was validated. A short presentation of MedModel is given. To investigate alternative ways to optimise the use of the catheterization room three experiments were formulated, modelled and simulated. Two different scheduling strategies were applied to the current situation and the three experimental situations. The number of patients that can be treated and the duration of a working day were determined as measures of performance. The results of the simulation experiments are discussed. The results of these experiments give the management of the catheterization room valuable information how to optimise the use of the catheterization room.
Subject(s)
Cardiac Catheterization/statistics & numerical data , Computer Simulation , Decision Theory , Cardiology Service, Hospital/statistics & numerical data , Decision Making, Computer-Assisted , Health Planning , HumansABSTRACT
Students in Health Policy and Management at the Faculty of Health Sciences of Maastricht University must learn to analyze and design workflow processes in health care. To attain this, a discrete event simulation training, using MedModel is used. This paper describes the training in two consecutive years. In both years the training was evaluated systematically. The evaluation results demonstrate that the simulation training increased the students' knowledge about analyzing and designing workflow processes in healthcare. Students considered the training as a very important part of their program.
