A COMPUTER SIMULATION MODEL TO REDUCE PATIENT LENGTH OF STAY AND TO IMPROVE RESOURCE UTILIZATION RATE IN AN EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT SERVICE SYSTEM

Gul M., GÜNERİ A. F.

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING-THEORY APPLICATIONS AND PRACTICE, cilt.19, sa.5, ss.221-231, 2012 (SCI-Expanded) identifier identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 19 Sayı: 5
  • Basım Tarihi: 2012
  • Dergi Adı: INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING-THEORY APPLICATIONS AND PRACTICE
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.221-231
  • Anahtar Kelimeler: Emergency departments, healthcare modeling, discrete event simulation, length of stay, Servicemodel, QUALITY, CARE
  • Yıldız Teknik Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

This paper presents a case study of a discrete-event simulation (DES) model of an emergency department (ED) unit in a regional university hospital in Turkey. In this paper emergency department operations of the hospital were modeled, analyzed and improved. The goal of the study is to reduce patient average length of stay (LOS) and to improve patient throughput and utilization of locations and human resources (doctors, nurses, receptionists). Some alternative scenarios in an attempt to determine optimal staff level were evaluated. These alternative approaches illustrate that vital improvement in LOS and throughput can be obtained by minor changes in shift hours and number of resources. Considering future changes in patient demand a scenario which reduces LOS and improves throughput is available in the paper.