Simulation as a hospital management support tool

This study aims to demonstrate the use of the discrete event simulation technique as a hospital management support tool, as well as all complex processes existing in a health unit. There must be an analysis of the system as a whole from the perspective of service level provided to patients regarding waiting times. The role of this technique is to show the behavior of a given system. Data were collected from employees of a public Polyclinic, located in a city of the greater São Paulo, by means of interviews which questions were prepared to determine the time spent in the processes of the service system. Such data were inserted in the software Arena in flowchart format for analysis and identification of the problem. Since the person responsible for the screening process was overloaded, thus causing longer waiting times for patients submitted for screening, some changes were made in the model in order to propose an improvement, to balance the occupancy levels of the health unit’s staff and, at the same time, reach a shorter withdrawal period of patients throughout the system. Results showed a significant improvement in the performance of the Polyclinic’s system, as well as a subsequent improvement in the level of service provided to patients. Based on this study, one can note that simulation allows for evaluating scenarios and projecting changes that will impact the behavior of a certain system with no physical changes, thus preventing the lack of scientific basis when making management decisions and allowing for improvements

Simulation as a hospital management support tool

This study aims to demonstrate the use of the discrete event simulation technique as a hospital management support tool, as well as all complex processes existing in a health unit. There must be an analysis of the system as a whole from the perspective of service level provided to patients regarding waiting times. The role of this technique is to show the behavior of a given system. Data were collected from employees of a public Polyclinic, located in a city of the greater São Paulo, by means of interviews which questions were prepared to determine the time spent in the processes of the service system. Such data were inserted in the software Arena in flowchart format for analysis and identification of the problem. Since the person responsible for the screening process was overloaded, thus causing longer waiting times for patients submitted for screening, some changes were made in the model in order to propose an improvement, to balance the occupancy levels of the health unit’s staff and, at the same time, reach a shorter withdrawal period of patients throughout the system. Results showed a significant improvement in the performance of the Polyclinic’s system, as well as a subsequent improvement in the level of service provided to patients. Based on this study, one can note that simulation allows for evaluating scenarios and projecting changes that will impact the behavior of a certain system with no physical changes, thus preventing the lack of scientific basis when making management decisions and allowing for improvements

Minimização dos custos de frete na distribuição de cimento por programação linear

The present study aimed to demonstrate the reduction of cement distribution costs through linear programming. This is a case study on the application of quantitative methods with Network Diagram to determine the optimal route to be performed, corresponding to the lowest freight cost possible for the distribution of cement bags of 50 kg of 2 CD's - distributions to 6 stores in the metropolitan region of São Paulo from a retailer of construction materials. For comparison purposes, the Vogel approximation method was used to identify the most appropriate method for this type of situation. The results showed optimization of the cement distribution in terms of costs. The relevance of this analysis is the possible use by companies that face this same situation in network distribution.O presente estudo teve como objetivo demonstrar a redução dos custos de distribuição de cimentos por meio de programação linear. Trata-se de um estudo de caso sobre a aplicação de métodos quantitativos com Diagrama de Rede para determinar o roteiro ótimo a ser realizado, que corresponda ao menor custo de frete possível para distribuição de sacos de cimento de 50 kg de 2 CD’s - centros de distribuições para 6 lojas da região metropolitana de São Paulo de uma empresa varejista de materiais para construção. Para efeito de comparação utilizou-se também o método de aproximação de Vogel para identificar qual o método mais adequado para este tipo de situação. Os resultados demonstraram otimização da distribuição de cimento em função dos custos. A relevância dessa análise está na possível utilização por empresas que enfrentem esta mesma situação na distribuição de rede