Reducing access times for an endoscopy department by an iterative combination of computer simulation and linear programming.

To reduce the access times of an endoscopy department, we developed an iterative combination of Discrete Event simulation and Integer Linear Programming. We developed the method in the Endoscopy Department of the Academic Medical Center in Amsterdam and compared different scenarios to reduce the access times for the department. The results show that by a more effective allocation of the current capacity, all procedure types will meet their corresponding performance targets in contrast to the current situation. This improvement can be accomplished without requiring additional equipment and staff. Currently, our recommendations are implemented.