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August 27, 2016 01:00 AM

Teen researcher makes hospital efficiency his mission

Modern Healthcare
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    Singh wants to create his own consulting firm to help developing nations design efficient hospitals.

    How to boost efficiency at a reasonable cost? It's an issue that bedevils hospital executives. They might not think to ask a teenager, but in North Carolina, one 19-year-old may have cracked the code for cost-efficient cancer treatment at a local hospital.

    Nishant Singh, a sophomore at North Carolina State University, observed the treatment process at UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center in Chapel Hill to determine the most cost-effective way for the hospital to increase its treatment capacity.

    The cancer center was running at 99% of capacity, leaving little room for expanding access or dealing with a surge in demand, said Singh, an industrial and systems engineering student. Singh wanted to understand which part of the treatment process needed more resources: clerical functions, physician interactions, CT scanning or radiation therapy?

    Through a series of virtual simulations, Singh ultimately determined that the bottleneck was in radiation therapy, and that adding a fourth machine could allow the hospital to operate at 85% of capacity, which is considered optimal.

    “We actually went through and mapped out each step-by-step process that the patient has to go through, and other processes not involving the patient,” Singh said. “I don't think a lot of hospitals have a clear step-by-step process.”

    The UNC center hasn't yet implemented the solution.

    Singh became interested in hospital efficiency when he attended a NCSU camp in high school. His long-term goal after college is to create a consulting firm that helps developing nations use their healthcare dollars most effectively and design new hospitals in a way that leads to cost-effective operations.

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