(Jenise Hughes, Enrico Linscheer, Matt Maynard, Carrie Messer, 1997)
Baylor University Medical Center is a five-hospital complex located in downtown Dallas and is one of the major tertiary care teaching and referral centers in the region. The complex currently has 1,455 licensed beds with 681 people on the medical staff. Our project focused on a newly designed but not built pre-operating facility, where patients are prepared for elective surgery. In the pre-op center, patients have their history and vitals taken, have a meeting with their anesthesiologist, and have any pre-operation medications administered.
A team of Baylor employees has been working for two years to design a new pre-op facility on the second floor of the Roberts Building. The blueprints and patient flow have been created, but there is some controversy as to whether or not the proposed facility can handle the expected capacity of patients and their family members.
Our project team used a program called MedModel to simulate the proposed 2RSU (2nd floor Roberts Surgical Unit) pre-op facility and determine if the capacity of the facility is adequate. We analyzed data from Baylor databases, logs, Delphi studies, time studies, and expert opinion using a product called ExpertFit, and used this information to build our model as accurately as possible. The model uses patient data from 50 Tuesdays, the busiest day for the pre-op centers. According to the model, the facility can adequately support the expected capacity with a few minor changes in locker and luggage storage facilities. If the new facility is approved by Baylor, it could begin construction as early as June 1997.