Designing an appointment system for an outpatient department

An outpatient department in which non-urgent patients arrived for consultation faces with the problem of patients’ long waiting time. Lack of an effective appointment is considered as the cause. In this study, a discrete event simulation model was developed to evaluate an appointment system. The developed system considered appointment rule, sequencing rule and environmental factor (priority rule). Various appointment systems were examined by the simulation model. All proposed alternatives effectively reduced outpatient waiting time without adding extra resources. With the introduction of appointment system, simulation had shown that average waiting time could be reduced thirty-seven to forth-four percent as compared to the current status. The most effective appointment system was finally recommended to the outpatient department for implementation.