Time Saves Lives: Optimizing Pediatric Clinic Patient Visit Times

Inefficient workflows in hospitals are a growing problem as the demand for medical services increases faster than an institution's ability to assist patient needs. To support the population’s medical demand, hospitals must optimize their current patient visit cycles to lower cycle times with the aim of increasing throughput. This study focuses on identifying inefficiencies of the patient visit cycle at the Orthopedic Clinic of Children’s National Hospital in Washington, DC. The project goal compromises three main research questions: (i) How can the patient visit cycle be modeled to demonstrate interdependencies between the cycle segments and segment actions? (ii) How can the cycle segment times be represented as mathematical probability distributions? and (iii) How can simulation of the patient visit cycle assess time effects of new policies? To investigate the questions, the team conducted interviews, performed observational site visits, collected data, fit data to distributions, and used the distributions to develop a simulation model in Simioä of the patient visit cycle. The team will apply policies to the simulation to assess the effects on the patient time in system and total throughput. From this analysis, suggestions can be made to the clinic. The proposed improvements include adjustments to labor schedules, patient arrivals, and provider rooms that optimize the workflow of the Orthopedic Clinic at the Children’s National Hospital.