A Simulation-Driven Hospital Facility Design Optimization Using A Priority-based Heuristic Algorithm

This study tackles healthcare facility planning and design using Discrete-Event Simulation (DES). Decisions need to be made regarding what departments need to be located in which section, and which rooms should be assigned to which department. Employing the FlexSim Healthcare simulation software, seven department distribution designs and three room-assignment algorithms are evaluated in a model representing a hospital with 14 departments and 72 rooms, resulting in 903,981,141 unique scenarios. The model variables include department distribution strategies, room assignment algorithms, and department minimum patient arrivals. Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), informed by medical professionals' input via a survey, prioritizes objectives for near-optimal configurations. The findings highlight the sustained superiority of a winning scenario, particularly the Earnings-Responsive Function Strategy combined with the algorithm that allows departments to share rooms across three sections, yielding an efficiency score of 1.06. This choice leads to positive outcomes, such as low patient average wait time, favorable staff utilization, and significant financial and throughput benefits. In healthcare facility design, the study emphasizes strategically organizing departments for patient care, efficiency, and safety. The layout respects operational capacity, gradually adding departments, and advocates for strategic room sharing to enhance efficiency and throughput while reducing wait times. The design includes diverse departments, with isolation for those handling contagious diseases. This step-by-step approach aims to establish a sustainable and effective healthcare environment, emphasizing efficiency, inclusivity, and safety within a concise framework.