ARENA Simulation on the Service Performance of a Medical Center: A Case Study

Abstract

Application of queuing theory in service industry is a common approach of many researchers. More contribution has been done on the application of queuing theory in the field of health care. Delays prevent prompt delivery of health care services which would be disastrous as human life is involved. The study aimed at examining and measuring the performance parameters of a private medical center. It had only one doctor for both checking patients and issuing medicines. The system was observed for a one hour period on three weekdays and a sample was 100 patients. Then the system was modeled using the student version of Rockwell ARENA 14.5. The Input Analyzer recorded the probability distributions for inter arrivals and service rates. The model was run for a replication length of one hour. The results revealed that patient waiting times in queue at the doctor and at the dispensary were 5.03 and 7.32 in minutes respectively. Moreover, the corresponding number of patients waiting at the doctor and dispensary were 4.74 and 7.10. Also, the total waiting time of a patient in the medical center was 31.12 minutes. The percentage of patients served recorded 42.11%. The study recommended to change the resources used in the two processes for increasing the performance. The new model recorded a performance of 62.5 %. Thus authors recommended employing a pharmacist to issue medicine at the dispensary. Consequently, the seating arrangement could be changed allowing maximum number of patients into system.