A Network Analysis of an Inpatient/Outpatient Department

In recent years, numerous models have been developed for the analysis of health care systems and facilities. However, for the most part, these models are directed at specific, narrowly defined problem areas or subsystems and do not provide a framework for a comprehensive analysis of a total health care system. Alternatively, Q-GERT, a recently developed network modelling and simulation tool does provide the capability for total health care system analysis. In this paper, the applicability of Q-GERT to health care systems is demonstrated via a description of a network model of a university infirmary. Output from the simulation of the network model provides operating statistics for various system parameters including service times, queue lengths, server utilization, etc. Potential applications of model results are demonstrated and discussed.