Formal and Simulation Models for a Phlebotomy Station Service System

The behavior of a central phlebotomy station for an out-patient medical care facility is analyzed by a formal service system model (queuing theory) and by a computer simulation model. Although the distributions of the intervals between successive patient arrivals and the duration of individual phlebotomies do not conform to the requirements of the formal model, some calculated system characteristics, such as the efficiencies of individual phlebotomists, agree quite closely with the results generated by simulation. The two models yield different values for the optimal number of phlebotomists in an econometric analysis, however.

Das Verhalten einer zentralen Phlebotomiestation in einer Klinikambulanz wird mit Hilfe eines formalen mathematischen und eines Computer-Simulationsmodells analysiert. Obwohl die Verteilungskurven der zeitlichen Intervalle zwischen der Ankunft des Patienten und den Zeiten, die die Phlebotomien benötigten, nicht dem formalen Modell gleichen, stimmen doch einige der berechneten Systemeigenschaften (wie z.B. die Fähigkeit individueller Phlebotomisten) gut mit dem Computermodell überein. In einer wirtschaftlichen Analyse ergeben jedoch die beiden Modelle verschiedene Werte für die optimale Zahl von Phlebotomisten.

Key-Words:

Health Care Delivery - Phlebotomy - Queuing Theory - Simulation

Schlüssel-Wörter:

Gesundheitsversorgung - Phlebotomie - Warteschlangen - Simulation

• References

• 1 Gupta I, Zoreda J, Kramer W. Hospital Manpower Planning by Use of Queuing Theory. Health Serv. Res 1971; 6: 76-82.
• 2 Haussman R. K.D. Waiting Time as an Index of Quality of Nursing Care. Health Serv. Res 1970; 5: 92-105.
• 3 Kosten C. Stochastic Theory of Service Systems. New York: Pergamon Press; 1973
• 4 Krieg A. F, Israel M, Dinkel J. J, Kochenberger G. A. A Mathematical Model of a Blood-Gas Service. Amer J. clin. Path 1977; 68: 321-326.
• 5 Panico J. A. Queuing Theory: A Study of Waiting Lines for Business, Economics, and Science. Englewood Cliffs, N. J.; Prentice-Hall: 1969
• 6 Steidley K. D, Vanloh S. A. A Monte Carlo Computer Model to Investigate Patient Scheduling. Radiology 1977; 122: 359-364.
• 7 Swartzman G. The Patient Arrival Process in Hospitals: Statistical Analysis. Health Serv. Res 1970; 5: 320-329.
• 8 Welch J. D, Bailey N.T.J. Appointment Systems in Hospital Qutpatient Departments. Lancet 1952; 262: 1105-1108.