Simulation and Improvement of Patients’ Workflow in Heart Clinics during COVID-19 Pandemic Using Timed Coloured Petri Nets

Masoomeh Zeinalnezhad, Abdoulmohammad Gholamzadeh Chofreh, Feybi Ariani Goni, Jiří Jaromír Klemeš and Emelia Sari
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Masoomeh Zeinalnezhad: Department of Industrial Engineering, West Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran 1468763785, Iran
Abdoulmohammad Gholamzadeh Chofreh: Sustainable Process Integration Laboratory–SPIL, NETME Centre, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Brno University of Technology, VUT Brno, Technická 2896/2, 61669 Brno, Czech Republic
Feybi Ariani Goni: Sustainable Process Integration Laboratory–SPIL, NETME Centre, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Brno University of Technology, VUT Brno, Technická 2896/2, 61669 Brno, Czech Republic
Jiří Jaromír Klemeš: Sustainable Process Integration Laboratory–SPIL, NETME Centre, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Brno University of Technology, VUT Brno, Technická 2896/2, 61669 Brno, Czech Republic
Emelia Sari: Department of Industrial Engineering, Faculty of Industrial Technology, Universitas Trisakti, Kyai Tapa No 1, Grogol, Jakarta Barat 11440, Indonesia

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 22, 1-18

Abstract: The COVID-19 epidemic has spread across the world within months and creates multiple challenges for healthcare providers. Patients with cardiovascular disease represent a vulnerable population when suffering from COVID-19. Most hospitals have been facing difficulties in the treatment of COVID-19 patients, and there is a need to minimise patient flow time so that staff health is less endangered, and more patients can be treated. This article shows how to use simulation techniques to prepare hospitals for a virus outbreak. The initial simulation of the current processes of the heart clinic first identified the bottlenecks. It confirmed that the current workflow is not optimal for COVID-19 patients; therefore, to reduce waiting time, three optimisation scenarios are proposed. In the best situation, the discrete-event simulation of the second scenario led to a 62.3% reduction in patient waiting time. This is one of the few studies that show how hospitals can use workflow modelling using timed coloured Petri nets to manage healthcare systems in practice. This technique would be valuable in these challenging times as the health of staff, and other patients are at risk from the nosocomial transmission.

Keywords: healthcare systems; hospital; COVID-19; discrete-event simulation; waiting time; timed coloured Petri net; heart clinic (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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