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RACS ASC 2024

Discrete Event Simulation: a powerful yet underutilized tool that empowers surgeons to optimize patient care

Poster

Presentation Description

Institution: Royal Perth Hospital - WA, Australia

Purpose: Efficient management of busy outpatient clinics is one of the many responsibilities of a surgeon. Although surgeons possess the necessary clinical skills to do this, they are often not able to champion administrative change due to the lack of time and funding. Many surgeons are not aware of discrete event simulations (DES), which can be used to rapidly audit clinical processes and simulate potential outcomes of hypothetical interventions in patient flow and staffing. The purpose of our study was to assess the feasibility of using DES software in the breast clinic, to model how the implementation of single and multiple proposed changes will improve resource utilization and patient flow. Methodology: First an audit was carried out to map the patient’s journey and quantify patient time and hospital resources spent at each checkpoint. Subsequently a DES model of the clinic’s patient flow was created. This was then used to quantitatively predict how checkpoint delays and staffing requirements can be reduced by implementing various proposed changes to the patient journey and to staffing allocation. Results: The simulation quantifies how each proposed change will impact resource utilization and patient journey delays. Data collection is underway, and we will present our results at the meeting. Conclusion: DES is a powerful tool that can empower surgeons to advocate for administrative, staffing and budgeting changes within their clinic, ward, or operating theatre. We hope that this feasibility study informs and inspires surgeons to use this software to improve clinical efficiency and patient outcomes.

Speakers

Authors

Authors

Dr Aroosha Safari - , Dr Vanitha Budhavaram - , Dr Stepahnie Tran - , Daniel Firth -