Structural and functional model of patient flow control in a regional consultation clinic

The paper deals with the problem of the availability and efficiency of advising highly specialized care for patients of regional health centers, serving a vast region of the Russian Federation with low average density of population by the example of the Krasnoyarsk region. It is proposed to solve this problem with the help of a medical information system “Virtual clinic”, which implements the following principles of flow control of remote patients: differentiation of patients by type of advice (full-time or part-time consulting), distance forming a route sheet to provide full-time advice to the patient of intraregional clinics, and remote distance counseling. The paper presents the rationale of the proposed approach as a result of the structural and functional domain modeling methodology SADT (Structured Analysis and Design Technique). The paper contains the results of the simulation of patient flow control in the form of a data flow diagram in a graphical notation IDEF0 AS IS and TO BE. The paper reveals the features of the remote absentee counseling and individual route planning of the patient in the clinic at the regional level by the example of the Krasnoyarsk Regional Hospital. The paper contains the description of the “Virtual clinic,” which reflects the composition and functions of the system, data presentation, user category, methodical and financial aspects of implementation, and monitoring tools accessibility provide advice. The paper describes the experience of the introduction of the “Virtual clinic” medical information system in the regional consultative clinics and 134 medical organizations of the Krasnoyarsk region sending patients for consultation to the regional hospital.