Public Health Preparedness Modeling

The drive-through flu clinic by Howard County, Maryland, was one of nine flu clinics in the county this fall. These demonstrate the idea of having different types of clinics focused on specific populations. An “Adult Clinic” for those over 50 years old was held during the day on a Friday. A Flumist clinic was held on a weeknight evening for people from age 2 to 49 without chronic health problems; this would have been popular with families. Even the drive-through had two areas: one for adults, and the other for families. (Six other clinics are being held in the next month in different locations across the county to catch everyone else.)

Using different clinics to target different populations makes a lot of sense from an operational and logistic point of view. It moves each clinic away from the “job shop” model that tries to serve everyone (with a lot of complexity and waiting) and makes it closer to the “manufacturing cell” (or “focused factory”) model that can be more efficient by serving one type of customer. From a modeling perspective, focusing on one type of customer reduces the variability in the system; and variability is a root cause of congestion and other problems.