Estimating the waiting time of multi-priority emergency patients with downstream blocking

Health Care Management Science - Tập 17 - Trang 88-99 - 2013
Di Lin1, Jonathan Patrick2, Fabrice Labeau1
1Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, McGill University, Montreal, Canada
2Telfer School of Management, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada

Tóm tắt

To characterize the coupling effect between patient flow to access the emergency department (ED) and that to access the inpatient unit (IU), we develop a model with two connected queues: one upstream queue for the patient flow to access the ED and one downstream queue for the patient flow to access the IU. Building on this patient flow model, we employ queueing theory to estimate the average waiting time across patients. Using priority specific wait time targets, we further estimate the necessary number of ED and IU resources. Finally, we investigate how an alternative way of accessing ED (Fast Track) impacts the average waiting time of patients as well as the necessary number of ED/IU resources. This model as well as the analysis on patient flow can help the designer or manager of a hospital make decisions on the allocation of ED/IU resources in a hospital.

Tài liệu tham khảo

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