Research Reports from the Department of Operations

Document Type

Report

Publication Date

3-1-1976

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to review recently completed and ongoing work in the field of simulation applied to dental practice management in general and problems of scheduling patients, workers and operatories in particular. In dentistry, as in many other areas of health care delivery, rapid changes are coming about. Practices are moving toward an increasing prevalence of group practices and to the introduction of new categories of allied professionals. These factors, plus the increased demand for dental care that may be anticipated in the coming years, are making it ever harder, and ever more important, to find solutions to practice management problems. Simulation, which is an experimental tool using a computer based model of the practice, is often used to observe or predict the effects of changes in modus operandi. Specifically, it has shown that the introduction of the Expanded Function Dental Auxiliary will increase productivity. In this paper, a taxonomy is developed to classify existing models, and the simulation studies of dental practice management are discussed in that context.

Keywords

Operations research, Dental offices--Management, Medical appointments and schedules--Mathematical models, Health services administration, Simulation methods, Medical personnel--Time management, Computer simulation, Productivity accounting, Dental auxiliary personnel

Publication Title

Technical Memorandums from the Department of Operations, School of Management, Case Western Reserve University

Issue

Technical memorandum no. 347

Rights

This work is in the public domain and may be freely downloaded for personal or academic use

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