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Tactical planning of the gastrointestinal and hepatology department of Medisch Spectrum Twente Decreasing the access time for patients by improving the management of resources

Busscher, Saskia (2015) Tactical planning of the gastrointestinal and hepatology department of Medisch Spectrum Twente Decreasing the access time for patients by improving the management of resources.

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Abstract:Introduction: The Gastrointesintestinal and Hepatology Department (GHD) of Medisch Spectrum Twente (MST) desires to reduce its access times in order to meet the nationally approved standards for the access times for non- acute health care, the treeknormen. The treeknormen prescribe that 80% of the patients should get an appointment or treatment within three weeks and the other 20% of the patients should see a doctor within a maximum of four weeks (RIVM, 2014). The GHD is far from meeting the treeknormen at this moment with access times as high as four months at the Outpatient Clinic (OC) and two months at the Endoscopic Centre (EC). Research objective: The department desires to find out whether it is possible to use its resources, such as the available time of the medical staff, more efficiently, so that access times can be reduced. Therefore the main objective of this research is: To develop and assess interventions that can lead to the decrease of access times at the Gastrointestinal and Hepatology Department of Medisch Spectrum Twente in order to meet the nationally approved treeknormen. In order to decrease the access time, this research focuses on the following two sub problems: 1. Imbalance in the distribution of program time over the EC- and OC programs 2. Empty slots in the schedule at the OC with three main causes: nursing slots not being filled by planners, no-shows, and emergency programs not being fully booked. Research Approach: Sub problem 1 is addressed by developing a heuristic to determine a ratio according to which the available program hours should be divided over the two sections. Sub problem 2 is addressed by first searching for interventions that might reduce access times of the OC. After the formulation of interventions, we use computer simulation to test these interventions. Afterwards, the following five different Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) were measured to draw conclusions about the influence of the interventions on the access times: 1. Mean access time in weeks 2. Percentage of patients receiving care in time according to internal- and external standards 3. Clinical throughput (number of appointments) 4. Percentage of idle time, split out in idle time caused by no-shows, and total idle time 5. Overtime
Item Type:Essay (Master)
Faculty:BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences
Subject:01 general works, 85 business administration, organizational science
Programme:Industrial Engineering and Management MSc (60029)
Link to this item:https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/69356
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