Improving the Efficiency of an Emergency Department Based on Activity-Relationship Diagram and Radio Frequency Identification Technology

Shao-Jen Weng, Ming-Che Tsai, Yao-Te Tsai, Donald F. Gotcher, Chih-Hao Chen, Shih-Chia Liu, Yeong-Yuh Xu and Seung-Hwan Kim
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Shao-Jen Weng: Department of Industrial Engineering and Enterprise Information, Tunghai University, Taichung 40704, Taiwan
Ming-Che Tsai: Institute of Medicine and School of Medicine, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung 40201, Taiwan
Yao-Te Tsai: Department of International Business, Feng Chia University, Taichung 40724, Taiwan
Donald F. Gotcher: Department of International Business, Tunghai University, Taichung 40704, Taiwan
Chih-Hao Chen: Department of Industrial Engineering and Enterprise Information, Tunghai University, Taichung 40704, Taiwan
Shih-Chia Liu: Department of Industrial Engineering and Enterprise Information, Tunghai University, Taichung 40704, Taiwan
Yeong-Yuh Xu: Department of Computer Science and Information Engineering, Hungkuang University, Taichung 43302, Taiwan
Seung-Hwan Kim: Department of Business Administration, Ajou University, Suwon 443-749, Korea

IJERPH, 2019, vol. 16, issue 22, 1-14

Abstract: Emergency department crowding has been one of the main issues in the health system in Taiwan. Previous studies have usually targeted the process improvement of patient treatment flow due to the difficulty of collecting Emergency Department (ED) staff data. In this study, we have proposed a hybrid model with Discrete Event Simulation, radio frequency identification applications, and activity-relationship diagrams to simulate the nurse movement flows and identify the relationship between different treatment sections. We used the results to formulate four facility layouts. Through comparing four scenarios, the simulation results indicated that 2.2 km of traveling distance or 140 min of traveling time reduction per nurse could be achieved from the best scenario.

Keywords: hospital operations; radio frequency identification; facility layout design; activity-relationship diagram; simulation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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