Improving management of patient flow at Radiology Department using Simulation Models

Abstract: The Swedish healthcare system is considered to have good healthcare productivity and efficiency with moderate cost but seems to have some future challenges. Sweden is moving towards the aging population as it requires development in medical care techniques and technologies to provide care to elderly patients. This increases the pressure on the healthcare system. Hence, the number of patients in the hospital increase, as a result, the flow of patients within the wards are increased. Furthermore, the pandemic has increased the number of people admitted to hospitals. As a consequence, even for high-priority cases, the wait times are rising. The Skaraborg Hospital Group, SHG, and other general hospitals, in particular, are focusing on how to handle patient flow at various levels within departments and clinics by improving patient flow quality. Production and capacity preparation (PCP) is a commonly used industry tool for resolving bottlenecks. Hence, this method needs to be adopted within the hospital and by the healthcare sector to a larger extent. Since many patients from different specialty departments use the Radiology department's facilities, it is often a "bottleneck" in inpatient traffic at hospitals. Furthermore, the influx of patients with covid-19 has increased the department's workload. This master's thesis aims to assist the Radiology department in improving their production and capacity planning to increase unit flow performance. The project involves supporting key staff in the department in estimating demand to align different patient movements with equipment and personnel services. Improving radiology department flow efficiency can lead to more even and healthy patient flows around the hospital, reducing "buffers" of patients and longer stays at different specialist clinics.