Estimation of the utilization rates of the resources of a dental clinic by simulation

Abstract

This study aimed to calculate the resource utilization rates, patient length of stay, and pa-tient waiting times of a small-scale dental clinic using the discrete-event simulation (DES) technique. Dentists, orthodontists, assistants, clerks, beds, triage areas were considered dental clinical resources in this study. In contrast to the traditional doctor-patient contact calculation of healthcare resource efficiencies, clinical resource efficiencies were calculated using the DES technique. Since the patient's arrival both with and without an appointment, the patient arrival times were calculated with a uniform distribution. According to actual data, 100 patients were treated per day on average, while the number of patients treated by the dentists and ortho-dontists was simulated as 105 in the simulation model. The utilization rate of the dentists, orthodontists, assistants, and clerks were computed as 65.5%, 77.5%, 35.5%, and 45%, respec-tively. The beds reserved for dentists, the beds for orthodontists, the triage locations used by assistants, and the registry office where clerks work have a utilization rate of 68.25%, 89.5%, 31.0%, and 99.0%, respectively. The time a patient must spend in the clinic for treatment was calculated a maximum of 155.51 minutes and a minimum of 41.68 minutes. A patient waits an average of 15.45 minutes to complete the dental treatment in this clinic. Patients wait 15.81 minutes for an available staff member and 15.1 minutes for an available location to receive dental treatment. We presented this study as the best example for the dental clinics to provide results that should be obtained in a short time and at a low cost.