Incorporating remote visits into an outpatient clinic

Most telemedicine studies are concerned with either the technological or diagnostic comparisons, rather than assessing the impact on clinic management. This has attributed to the retrospective nature of the studies, with lack of data being the main cause for not using simulation for prospective analysis. This article demonstrates the use of simulation to assess the impact of prospective systems by utilising data generated from clinical trials. The example used here is the introduction of remote consultations into an outpatient's clinic. The article addresses the issues of using secondary data, in terms of the differences between the trial, the model and future reality. The result of running the simulation model show that exchanging the mode of service delivery does not improve patient wait times as expected, and that a protocol change in association with the introduction of remote visits is necessary to provide a substantial reduction in patient wait times.