Project 1

INE4011-System Simulation
Submission Deadline: 2nd December 2021, @23:59 (Istanbul time)

Question:

In this assignment we will build a simple simulation model for a healthcare system. Assume
that, we have two types of patients: emergency patients and non-emergency patients. Interarrival
time for emergency patient is triangular distribution with minimum 10 mostly likely 12 and
maximum 15 minutes. Once emergency patients arrive to healthcare system, they enter a pre-
examination nurse desk first. In the pre-examination nurse desk there exists single pre-
examination nurse with a single FIFO queue. Operation time for the pre-examination nurse desk
is exponential with mean 15 minutes. Right after the pre-examination nurse desk, emergency
patients enter a check in desk for emergency patient that has single check in for emergency patient
personnel and a single FIFO queue. Operation time for check in desk for emergency patient is
triangular distribution with minimum 2, mostly likely 5 and maximum 7 minutes. After the check
in desk for emergency patient, 90% of the emergency patients enter inpatient department.
Inpatient department has single inpatient department personnel and a single FIFO queue.
Operation time for inpatient department is exponential with mean 20 minutes. Also, after the
check in desk for emergency patient, 10% of the emergency patients enter single outpatient
department which has single outpatient department personnel and a single FIFO queue. In this
single outpatient department, operation time for emergency patient is exponential with mean 16
minutes and operation time for non-emergency patient is triangular distribution with minimum 10,
mostly likely 13 and maximum 16 minutes.
After inpatient department, emergency patients enter a health check for inpatient
department desk that has single health check for inpatient department personnel with single FIFO
queue. Operation time for the health check for inpatient department desk is uniform distribution
with minimum 4 and maximum 6 minutes. After the health check for inpatient department desk,
8% of the patients go back to inpatient department again, 65% of the patients go to check out
desks and 27% of the patients go to single outpatient department where patients entered right after
the check in desk for non-emergency patient and check in desk for emergency patient.
Finally, non-emergency patients enter a non-emergency check out desk has single non-
emergency check out personnel with single FIFO queue. Similarly, emergency patients enter a
emergency check out desk has single emergency check out personnel with single FIFO queue
(emergency patients will go to emergency check out desk and non-emergency patients will go to
non-emergecy check out desk). Operation time for emergency check out desk is triangular
distribution with minimum 3, mostly likely 6 and maximum 9 minutes. Operation time for non-
emergency check out desk is triangular distribution with minimum 2, mostly likely 5 and
maximum 8 minutes.
Journey of a non-emergency patient is a bit different than an emergency patient. Interarrival
time for non-emergency patient is exponential with mean 16 minutes. Once non-emergency
patients arrive to healthcare system, first they enter a check in desk for nonemergency patient.

1
 Check in desk for nonemergency patient has single check in for nonemergency patient personnel
with single FIFO queue. Operation time of check in desk for nonemergency patient is triangular
distribution with minimum 2 mostly likely 5 and maximum 7 minutes. Right after check in desk,
non-emergency patients enter a single outpatient department (where 10% of the emergency
patients enter right after check in desk for emergency patient). After outpatient department,
patients enter a health check for outpatient department desk that has single health check for
outpatient department personnel with single FIFO queue. Operation time of health check for
outpatient department desk is triangular distribution with minimum 2 mostly likely 4 and
maximum 6 minutes. Finally, as in the journey of the emergency patients, Non-emergency
patients enter a single non-emergency check out desk that has single non-emergency check out
personnel with single FIFO queue. Emergency patients enter a single emergency check out desk
that has single emergency check out personnel with single FIFO queue (emergency patients will
go to emergency check out desk and non-emergency patients will go to non-emergency check out
desk).

Run the simulation model for 2000 minutes in a 24 hours per day period and collect these statistics:
 Collect statistics for queue length, queue time and utilization of the resources
 How many emergency patients and non-emergency patients leaves this healthcare system?
 Calculate the time interval between check in desk for emergency patient and after the
check out desk for emergency patient.
 Calculate the time interval between check in desk for non-emergency patient and after the
check out desk for non-emergency patient.
 Which process or processes would you consider as bottleneck(s) of this system, why?
Support your answer by using the simulation report.

You are required to:

i) Explain the steps you followed when you build the model (you can use screen shots).
ii) Comment on each of the statistics given above. Submit your simulation report, your comments
and your answers in a single document via itslearning.
iii) Submit your .doe file and .out file of your model and to do so please use itslearning.
Reminder: Notice that, this task requires individual work. Your work should be yours and
unique. No cheating or you will get a 0 (zero). In addition, no late submission or you will get 0
(zero).
Grading policy for project: Arena implementation & report: 60%, comments & inferences:
30%, document organization: 10% (clear, neat and well organized report)

Hint 1: Do not use “-“ symbol in your models when giving names to your modules and
resources. If you type any symbol, you will get an error.
Hint 2: You will use Create, Process, Dispose, Decide, Assign and Record modules while
building your model.
Hint 3: In the problem, there is only one outpatient department and both types of patients
can enter this outpatient department. After the check in desk for emergency patient and check in
desk for non-emergency patient, patients can enter only one outpatient department.
Hint 4: At the end of the model and before check out for emergency and non-emergency
desks, don’t forget to divide your patients in two groups. Emergency patients will go to
emergency check out desk and non-emergency patients will go to non-emergency check out
desk.
Hint 5: For calculating the time intervals for both emergency and non-emergency patients
you need to define two different attributes (with different names). You need to calculate these
time intervals before check in and after check out points.