The Simulation Model of Teleradiology in Telemedicine Project

Telemedicine projects are aimed at offering medical services to people who do not have access to direct diagnosis and treatment services. As a powerful tool for analyzing the performance of complex systems and taking probable events into consideration, systemic simulation can facilitate the analysis of implementation processes of telemedicine projects in real-life-like situations. The aim of the present study was to propose a model for planning resource capacities and allocating human and operational resources to promote the efficiency of telemedicine project by investigating the process of teleradiology. In this article, after verification of the conceptual model by the experts of this field, the computerized simulation model is developed using simulation software Arena. After specifying the required data, different improvement scenarios are run using the computerized model by feeding the data into the software and validation and verification of the model. Fixing input data of the system such as the number of patients, their waiting time, and process time of each function, for example, magnetic resonance imaging or scan, has been compared with the current radiology process. Implementing the teleradiology model resulted in reduction of time of patients in the system (current: 1.84 +/- 0.00, tele: 0.81 +/- 0.00). Furthermore, through this process, they can allocate the lower resources to perform better functions of staff. The use of computerized simulation is essential for designing processes, optimal allocation of resources, planning, and making appropriate decisions for providing timely services to patients.