Colorectal cancer is a leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States, leading to over 50,000 fatalities every year. But it can be prevented with early screening using a procedure called a colonoscopy. Now researchers from North Carolina State University, Mayo Clinic and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst (UMass) have created a tool to help colonoscopy facilities operate more efficiently, ultimately lowering costs and leading to shorter waiting times for patients.
The researchers have created a computer model that "helps people who manage colonoscopy facilities, such as hospitals and clinics, find the best combination of physicians, staff, rooms and equipment needed to cater to the number of patients they can expect," says Bjorn Berg, lead author of the paper outlining the new tool and a Ph.D. student in the Edward P. Fitts Department of Industrial & Systems Engineering at NC State. The model can also be used to determine the optimum number of patients a facility can see in any given day.
"Colonoscopy facility managers can try out different ideas in the model to see how they work before trying them in the real world - which is an expensive place to experiment," says Dr. Brian Denton, an assistant professor of industrial and systems engineering at NC State and co-author of the paper. "For example, a manager could see whether it is worthwhile to hire another endoscopist who can perform colonoscopies, hire another nurse, or add another recovery bed for the facility."