Operation of private dental office

Introduction:

This page includes research report for the semester project and its requisities.

• Name of the simulation: Operation of private dental office

• Course: 4IT496 Simulace systémů v angličtině (ZS 2020/2021)

• Author: Bc. Alena Dufková

• Type: System dynamic

• Modeling tool: Vensim

Problem definition

The topic of the simulation was chosen with a view of understanding to the processes and connections in a dental office. The author already followed this theme in her bachelor thesis and is actively interested in becoming dental hygienist, if the main focus in informatics should not go well.

Simulated data and conditions are from a real private dental office situated in central Bohemia. The Simulation consists of the aspects influencing the company operations from within and from the outside. Nowadays even the COVID-19 is influencing the revenues and it impacts the common procedures at work. The goal is to help the specific dental office to see its progress and overall stats. They could see ¨some hidden opportunities that might be available once they get their hands on the simulation. Whatsmore the results should be appliable to any other average private dental office.

Method

When selecting the possible means to run the simulation, two options were considered. Using Simprocess or Vensim. Both programs can very practically capture the status and running of the company. They can also capture the needs of the company for its healthy life cycle. However, Vensim was eventually chosen, thanks to its more dynamic environment, taking into account the influence of COVID-19 on the operation of the company. These links would be far more difficult to capture with the unselected program.

Model

The most important thing is to know the environment and the people you work with. In this case of this work, it is a private dental office, in which there are exactly two employees, a dentist and an instrumentalist. To repeat the experiment with the best accuracy for your own case, it is necessary to have access to the information directly from employees of such an environment. This is a doctor's office located in a small town in Central Bohemian, where there is little to no competition. This applies to many dental offices in smaller cities, only the capital city of Prague has enough doctors to create a rivalry between companies, so we abstract from the variable aspect of "competitors."

General description of entities

The first and key aspect for the proper operation of the company is the accreditation of the doctor. This increases revenues the most. It is based on this attribute that it is necessary to know the staff of the surgery in order to record all the procedures that contribute to the well-being of patients.

Once there are introduced human units, I will mention other employees. In this particular case, it is precisely one instrumentalist who also contributes to patient care through her activities.

Another important equipment of the company is the resources to further increase the value. They are therefore materials and devices used to care for patients. Materials are usually of two types: consumer (fillings, rinsing water and others) and disposable (gloves, cups, cotton wool and others). They are usually very similar for all surgeries, due to the directives and regulations of the dental chamber and therefore they are not further broken down. The devices are more variable and each company may have different equipment, although some are certainly the same (for example, a dental chair) they are specifically listed.

All these facts contribute to patient care. The more valuable the patient care, the more rampant the interest in being treated in this surgery, and the higher the demand. The demand in this case are the orders of the patients. Unfortunately, this process is also influenced by COVID-19 today. Some procedures had to be completely canceled and many patients are even afraid to visit the surgery, even though they have been waiting for it for months.

Demand has a direct effect on the workload of the office. The busier it is, the more the surgery's revenues increases, whether from the pockets of patients or insurance companies. However, the capacity is of course limited and therefore, paradoxically, the potential patient care is reduced because no more patients can be recruited.

Of course, there are several types of costs present throughout the system. Operating costs are directly affected by fixed costs, which include, for example, rental or electricity costs, and resources that need to be financed. The total costs are thus enriched by operating costs and at the same time by the nurse's salaries. Budget is therefore mainly affected by total costs and revenues.

Furthermore, finally, COVID-19 was found guilty of further increasing total costs and reducing revenues. In connection with costs, these are mainly other materials that need to be procured regularly. In terms of income, these are lost profits for patients who were ordered but either did not come or could not be admitted to the building through directives (high fever and other symptoms).

Casual loop diagram

Casual loop diagram of operation of private dental office

List of entities and logic

• accreditation of the doctor: summary of doctor's abilities (this case 100%); (IF THEN ELSE (acute treatment = 2, 20, 0) + IF THEN ELSE (conservative dentistry = 2, 20, 0) + IF THEN ELSE (endodontics = 2, 20, 0) + IF THEN ELSE (prevention = 2, 20, 0) + IF THEN ELSE (protetics = 2, 20, 0))

• budget: (revenues - total costs)

• demand:

• devices: summary of available devices; (IF THEN ELSE (dental chair = 2, 33, 0) + IF THEN ELSE (microscope = 2, 33, 0) + IF THEN ELSE ("x-ray" = 2, 33, 0))

• instrumentalist: represents wage of the assistant; currently set on 20 000,- CZK

• materials: summary of available materials; (IF THEN ELSE (consumer materials = 2, 50, 0) + IF THEN ELSE (disposable materials = 2, 50, 0))

• operating costs: summary of fixed costs and costs given for taking care of the resources; (fixed costs+resources*200)

• patient care:

• resources: summary of available resources; (IF THEN ELSE (devices = 99, 50, 0) + IF THEN ELSE (materials = 100, 50, 0))

• revenues:

• total costs: summary of costs average on month; (IF THEN ELSE ("COVID-19 phase" = 1, 60000, 0) + IF THEN ELSE ("COVID-19 phase" = 2, 60000, 0) + IF THEN ELSE ("COVID-19 phase" = 3, 60000, 0) + IF THEN ELSE ("COVID-19 phase" = 4, 60000, 0) + IF THEN ELSE ("COVID-19 phase" = 5, 60000, 0) + instrumentalist + operating costs)

• workload of the office:

List of variable entities and logic

• acute treatment: doctor's ability increases by 20%; value 1 means that the doctor is not accredited, value 2 means that the doctor is accredited

• conservative dentistry: doctor's ability increases by 20%; value 1 means that the doctor is not accredited, value 2 means that the doctor is accredited

• consumer materials: materials increases by 50% if available; value 1 means not available, value 2 means available

• COVID-19 phase: current COVID-19 phase diagnosed via "PES"; value 1 means phase 1, value 2 means phase 2, value 3 means phase 3, value 4 means phase 4, value 5 means phase 5

• dental chair: devices increases by 50% if available; value 1 means not available, value 2 means available

• disposable materials: materials increases by 50% if available; value 1 means not available, value 2 means available

• endodontics: doctor's ability increases by 20%; value 1 means that the doctor is not accredited, value 2 means that the doctor is accredited

• fixed costs: costs like rental costs increasing total costs; set to 50 000,- CZK as it is average fixed cost for this office

• microscope: devices increases by 50% if available; value 1 means not available, value 2 means available

• prevention: doctor's ability increases by 20%; value 1 means that the doctor is not accredited, value 2 means that the doctor is accredited

• protetics: doctor's ability increases by 20%; value 1 means that the doctor is not accredited, value 2 means that the doctor is accredited

• x-ray: devices increases by 50% if available; value 1 means not available, value 2 means available