How do I attach a companion to a patient?

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Katie M asked Jun 12 2018 at 5:35 PM Matthew Gillespie edited May 24 2019 at 11:23 PM

How do I attach a companion to a patient?

I'm simulating a Cancer Care facility, with an emphasis on space/flow. How can I have a patient arrive at the clinic with a companion, and also have those companions follow them wherever they go? I created a trigger but more than 1 companion arrives until the entrance capacity is full.

Thanks,

Katie

Software Version:

FlexSim HC 5.1.0

patient flow companions companion

cancer-care-sydney-autosave.fsm (1.2 MiB)

· 4

Isaac Litster commented · Jun 12 2018 at 6:34 PM

Hi @Katie M

I think there might be an error in the file you uploaded. Could you repost it? Thanks

1 ·

Katie M Isaac Litster commented · Jun 14 2018 at 1:56 PM

cancer-care-sydney.fsm

Sorry about that - does this work?

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cancer-care-sydney.fsm (2.1 MiB)

Cliff King Katie M commented · Jun 14 2018 at 6:53 PM

Katie,

In the "Create Companions" trigger you are using on the first activity of the "MDC Patient" track, you have specified that the companion should also be created from the same "MDC Patient" track. This in effect will implement an infinite loop of patients creating companions which in turn create companions, which in turn, create companions, and so on. Did you mean to specify the companion as "MDC Patient_2"?

Even if you make this change to your model, I don't think you will get the behavior you expect because the patient and the companion will be following their own track without any synchronization between the two tracks. In the sample model I posted earlier, you will find a great example of how to synchronize the activities of the patient and the companion by using triggers on the patient track that calls a specific activity on the companion track at the appropriate time.

In order to fully implement all the coordination between patient and companion that I designed into the sample model, you will need to upgrade to the latest version of the software (HC 5.3.4). Also be aware that the "Create Companions" pick list option has also been upgraded in the latest version such that it allows you to specify the companion track with a PCI number rather than a track name, giving a little more flexibility to the Create Companion option as well.

Cliff

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Answer 1 · 2018-06-13T20:07:46Z

Cliff King answered Jun 13 2018 at 8:07 PM Cliff King edited Jun 14 2018 at 6:41 PM

In case it's helpful, I've attached an example model showing one way to model patient companions. In this model, the child is the "patient" and the child's mother is the "companion". Both the child and the mother have a separately defined patient track and a separate PCI number as follows:

Child: PCI = 1, Track = "Child_Patient"
Mother: PCI = 2, Track = "Mother_Comp"

The patient arrival object creates the child (PCI 1), and an Activity Started Trigger on the child track's first activity creates the companion (i.e. mother) using the "Create Companion" pick list option. The "Create Companion" option creates the mother, positions her in the arrival object just behind and to the right of the patient's location, gives the mother an appropriate name and then kicks off the first activity (i.e. the one without a predecessor) on the mother's track.

Subsequent companion (i.e. mother) activities are kicked off at the appropriate time using triggers defined in the patient's (i.e. child's) track. The mother basically follows the child around to all locations except the X-Ray room in this model.

mother-and-child-at-acute-care-clinic-using-new-ge.fsm

mother-and-child-at-acute-care-clinic-using-new-ge.fsm (672.0 KiB)

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