In this task, you'll build out three different possible treatment tracks for the patient. These different treatment tracks will teach you how to use transports and equipment, which are a special class of objects in FlexSim Healthcare models.
In the first track, the patient will go to the operating room for sutures and will be transported back to the exam room using a wheelchair. In the second track, a nurse will get an EKG machine from a storage area to monitor the patient. In the third track, the patient will go to the x-ray room for radiology. You'll build and test each track in this tutorial.
When you're finished, your simulation model will function similar to the following image:
In this step, you'll add additional location objects and staff objects to the 3D model to create an operating room and x-ray center. You'll also add some transport objects to the model (wheelchairs) and an equipment object (an EKG machine).
Lastly, you'll also add some additional staff members to this model and create groups for the new staff members. When you're finished, your simulation model should look similar to the following image:
To make these changes:
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as well.Check that your simulation model looks similar to the image at the beginning of this step.
Since you added several new 3D objects to your simulation model in the previous step, you need to create object groups for those new objects in order to make your model scale well. In this step, you'll create an equipment group named EKGs for EKG machine, a transport group named Wheelchairs, a staff group named Surgeons, and a staff group named Techs.
To create additional object groups:
Consider saving your model at this point.
In this step, you'll add your first treatment track to the PatientTrack process flow. You'll add a treatment track in which the patient will go to the operating room for sutures. This treatment track will show you how to work with transport objects because the patient will need to be transported back from the operating room on a wheelchair.
When you're finished, the process flow will look similar to the following image:
The following is an overview of how the activities and shared assets will function:
Activity | Explanation |
---|---|
OR | This shared asset will link to the OR1 object in the 3D model. |
Wheelchair | This shared asset will link to the Wheelchairs transport group in the 3D model. |
Surgeon | This shared asset will link to the Surgeons staff group in the 3D model. |
Acquire OR | This activity will attempt to acquire the OR1 location. If another patient is using the OR1 location, the token will wait until the OR1 location is available. |
Acquire Surgeon | This activity will acquire a member of the Surgeons group. |
Escort Patient to OR | This activity will tell the acquired surgeon to escort the patient to the OR1 location. |
Suture Patient | This activity will represent the amount of time it takes to test the patient. You'll set that time to 30 seconds for now. |
Acquire Wheelchair | This activity will attempt to acquire a wheelchair for the patient. If all the wheelchairs are already being used by other patients, the current patient will wait. Once a wheelchair is free, the current patient's token will move to the next activity. |
Transport Patient to Exam Room | This activity will tell the surgeon to get the wheelchair and bring it to the patient. After the patient gets on the wheelchair, the surgeon will transport the patient back to the exam table the patient had used originally. |
Return Wheelchair | Once the patient has been transported, the surgeon will move the wheelchair back to its original storage area. You'll use a picklist option that sets the destination back to the wheelchair's original reset position in the model, which is the storage area. |
Release Surgeon | This activity will release the surgeon that was acquired earlier in the process flow. The surgeon will then be free to work on other tasks or to be acquired by other patients. |
Release Wheelchair | This activity will release the wheelchair so that it can be acquired by other patients in the simulation model. |
Release OR | This activity will release the OR1 location so that it can be acquired by other patients. |
To build this logic:
Activity or Shared Asset | New Name |
---|---|
Location | OR |
Transport | Wheelchair |
Staff | Surgeon |
Acquire Location | Acquire OR |
Acquire Staff | Acquire Surgeon |
Escort Patient | Escort Patient to OR |
Process | Suture Patient |
Acquire Transport | Acquire Wheelchair |
Transport Patient | Transport Patient to Exam Room |
Move Equipment | Return Wheelchair |
Release Staff | Release Surgeon |
Release Transport | Release Wheelchair |
Release Transport | Release OR |
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.Reset and run the simulation model:
After the staff consultation phase, a surgeon then comes and escorts the patient to the operating room and sutures the patient. The surgeon then gets a wheelchair and returns the patient back to the exam room.
In this step, you'll learn how to work with equipment in FlexSim Healthcare models. You'll add a second phase of treatment in which an RN will get an EKG machine from its storage area and use it to test the patient. When the patient is done being tested, the RN will return the EKG machine to its storage closet.
When you're finished, the process flow will look similar to the following image:
The following is an overview of how the new activities will function:
Activity or Shared Asset | Explanation |
---|---|
EKG | This shared asset will link to the EKGs equipment group in the 3D model. |
EKG RN | This shared asset will link to the RNs staff group in the 3D model. |
Acquire EKG | This activity will attempt to acquire an EKG for the patient. If all the EKGs are already being used by other patients, the current patient will wait. Once an EKG is free, the current patient's token will move to the next activity. |
Acquire EKG RN | This activity will acquire a member of the RNs group. If all members of the RNs group are busy working on other tasks, the token will wait at this activity until an RN is free. |
Move EKG | This activity will tell the RN to get the EKG and bring it to the patient's current location. |
Test Patient | This activity will represent the amount of time it takes the RN to test the patient. You'll set that time to 30 seconds for now. |
Return EKG | Once the patient has been tested, the RN will move the EKG back to its original storage area. You'll use a picklist option that sets the destination back to the EKG's original reset position in the model, which is the storage area. |
Release EKG RN | This activity will release the EKG RN that was acquired earlier in the process flow. Afterwards, the RN will then be free to work on other tasks or to be acquired by other patients. |
Release EKG | This activity will release the EKG so that it can be acquired by other patients in the simulation model. |
To build this logic:
Activity or Shared Asset | New Name |
---|---|
Equipment | EKG |
Staff | EKG RN |
Acquire Equipment | Acquire EKG |
Acquire Staff | Acquire EKG RN |
Move Equipment | Move EKG |
Process | Test Patient |
Move Equipment | Return EKG |
Release Staff | Release EKG RN |
Release Equipment | Release EKG |
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.Reset and run the simulation model:
After the staff consultation phase, an RN brings the EKG machine to the patient. After a brief delay, the RN then returns the EKG to its storage room.
In this phase, the patient will go to the radiology area for an x-ray. When you're finished, the process flow will look similar to the following image:
The following is an overview of how the new activities will function:
Activity or Shared Asset | Explanation |
---|---|
X-Ray | This shared asset will link to the Xray1 object in the 3D model. |
Tech | This shared asset will link to the Techs staff group in the 3D model. |
Acquire X-Ray | This activity will attempt to acquire the Xray1 location. If another patient is using the Xray1 location, the token will wait until the Xray1 location is available. |
Acquire Tech | This activity will acquire a member of the Techs group. |
Escort Patient to X-Ray | This activity will tell the acquired tech to escort the patient to the Xray1 location. |
X-Ray Patient | This activity will represent the amount of time it takes to x-ray the patient. You'll set that time to 30 seconds for now. |
Escort Back to Exam Room | This activity will tell the tech to escort the patient back to the exam table the patient had used originally. |
Release Tech | This activity will release the tech that was acquired earlier in the process flow. Afterwards, the tech will then be free to work on other tasks or to be acquired by other patients. |
Release X-Ray | This activity will release the Xray1 location so that it can be acquired by other patients. |
To build this logic:
Activity or Shared Asset | New Name |
---|---|
Location | X-Ray |
Staff | Tech |
Acquire Location | Acquire X-Ray |
Acquire Staff | Acquire Tech |
Escort Patient | Escort Patient to X-Ray |
Process | X-Ray Patient |
Escort Patient | Escort Patient to Exam Room |
Release Staff | Release Tech |
Release Location | Release X-Ray |
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.Reset and run the simulation model:
After the staff consultation phase, a tech then comes and escorts the patient to the x-ray room and performs the x-ray. The tech then returns the patient back to the exam room.
Now that you've built and tested each of the three different treatment tracks, you'll set the Decide: Which Treatment activity to select one of the three treatment tracks using a random statistical distribution. FlexSim has several different statistical distributions available, but this step will demonstrate how to implement the D Uniform distribution.
The D Uniform statistical distribution means that the patient will randomly be assigned to a number between 1 and 3, with an equal chance any number will be selected. The number that is returned will determine which connector the token will go to (either 1, 2, or 3), which will affect which treatment the patient receives. Be aware that you could use different random distributions to assign patients to different tracks. For example, you could assign patients to different treatment tracks based on percentages instead. See Using the Distribution Chooser for more information.
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.Reset and run the simulation model:
As you watch, notice that the patients will randomly be assigned to one of the three different treatment tracks.
By this point, you've built out a fairly complete simulation model and have learned all the core tools and processes that you would need to build out a patient treatment track. In the next tutorial, you'll learn how to create tasks that are not connected to a specific patient, such as phone answering systems or cleaning tasks. Continue on to Tutorial Task 1.6 - Create Independent Staff Tasks.