A design pattern for modelling and simulation in hospital pharmacy management

Nowadays, several Thai hospitals are still suffering from inefficient processes. Redesigning business processes is an effective way for improvement. However, business process mapping and analysis in healthcare environment has become a complex task. Besides, most healthcare professionals often resist change. To deal with these obstacles, a design pattern useful for modelling and simulation is suggested in this paper. For deriving patterns in this study, current problems focusing on hospital pharmacy management are initially identified through empirical investigation. Then the suitable solutions can be determined based on the literature review. The design pattern is represented through various attributes including pattern name, purpose, description, modelling structure using a modelling language. In addition, more attributes related to simulation modelling are also combined such as control variables and performance measures. Process modellers can rapidly understand the context of problems through design patterns. The proposed patterns can be reused to create a new model and conduct a successful simulation study. This approach can be a valuable tool to redesign healthcare systems.