REDUCING WAITING TIME AND IMPROVING PATIENT FLOW INPUBLICSECTORHOSPITALS USING BUSINESS PROCESS ENGINEERING AND SIMULATION

Abstract

The goal of healthcare organizations is to provide efficient and effective patient care while ensuring patient satisfaction. One significant challenge in achieving this goal is managing patient flow and reducing hospital wait times. Almost 550 randomly selected patients were part of the study. Information was obtained from respondents by using pretested questionnaire and further descriptive statistics were used for analysis. In this study, the application of business process engineering (BPE) was explored as a solution to increasing patient flow and reducing waiting times in hospitals. The study examined the present patient flow in public hospitals, which was a crucial component of the research, it also identified constrictions and inefficiencies in the current process and showed how the use of different methodologies helped in eradicating the problem. The results of the conducted study revealed that the implementation of BPE methodologies can significantly improve patient flow and reduce waiting times in hospitals, leading to increased patient satisfaction and improved operational efficiency. According to these results, using BPE techniques significantly reduced patient wait times from an average of 118 minutes to 19.29 minutes. The findings of this study have important implications for healthcare organizations looking to improve patient flow and reduce waiting times and highlight the potential of BPE as a valuable tool for healthcare process improvement.