A simulator to improve patient´s service in a network of clinic laboratories

The general objective of this work is to present a generic simulator to be used in a network of clinic laboratories of the company ACHS-Arauco Health in Chile, which is to be used to standardize the service processes, the assignment of personnel and to guide investment decisions. The specific objective is to reduce the time in the system of the patients. The resulting simulator should represent all the laboratories of the company and use an electronic sheet as an interface for the parameters. To build the model, the exams were grouped in different families and the process times and resources demanded were studied for each one of these families. The model was validated by experts and implemented with ARENA and EXCEL. Different configurations of resources were studied to detect bottlenecks, which allowed us to reallocate personnel to peak hours, to redesign facilities and to reduce the waiting time of the patients.