Improving emergency departments: Simulation-based optimization of patients waiting time and staff allocation in an Iranian hospital
Soori Sasanfar, Morteza Bagherpour, Afrooz Moatari‐Kazerouni
Abstract
Emergency department (ED) is known as the beating heart of a hospital which operates 24 hours, every day of a year. It provides services to a wide spectrum of patients with various medical conditions. Therefore, it is crucial to simulate and optimize the ED’s processes for enhancement of services provided. Improving processes can be challenging, especially when a complex and unpredictable environment such as ED is under study. This research aims to identify an improved allocation of resources in different wards of an emergency department, with the goal of improving the patients and staff workflow. The research approach untaken is a case study at a state hospital in the Semnan province, Iran. The emergency department of this hospital is evaluated for a new layout design by which the average patients waiting time be reduced and the allocation of staff be optimized. The simulation technique, using Arena, is adopted to fulfil these goals. Recommendations are proposed for a layout design which could improve the average waiting time of the Internal-Emergent patients by 23.18% and the Surgical-Emergent patients by 81.7%. This means waiting time reduction of 3.31 minutes for the Internal-Emergent patients and 10.58 minutes for the Emergent patients.