A goal programming and simulation based study for overall process improvement in an Indian hospital

This study shows how the quality of service can be improved in a hospital by utilising simulation and goal programming technique without adding any significant resources. The study considers two types of patients, health check‐up patients and outpatients. Multiple simulation exercises were carried out using ARENA to describe the flow of patients as well as find the delays and bottlenecks in the process. The results from ARENA show that significant process delays exist in the hospital because of which the patients have to wait long intervals for their consultation session with the doctor as well as laboratory examinations. Various key factors for process improvement have been identified such as waiting time (for both types of patients) and utilisation of various resources. Various appointment systems are considered to find the best schedule for patients with doctor, labs and clerical staff treated as key resources. The problem is formulated as a goal programming problem.