A queueing model for bed-occupancy management and planning of hospitals

F Gorunescu, S I McClean () and P H Millard
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F Gorunescu: University of Medicine and Pharmacy
S I McClean: University of Ulster
P H Millard: St George's Hospital Medical School

Journal of the Operational Research Society, 2002, vol. 53, issue 1, 19-24

Abstract: Abstract The aim of this paper is, on the one hand, to describe the movement of patients through a hospital department by using classical queueing theory and, on the other hand, to present a way of optimising the use of hospital resources in order to improve hospital care. A queueing model is used to determine the main characteristics of the access of patients to hospital, such as mean bed occupancy and the probability that a demand for hospital care is lost because all beds are occupied. Moreover, we present a technique for optimising the number of beds in order to maintain an acceptable delay probability at a sufficiently low level and, finally, a way of optimising the average cost per day by balancing costs of empty beds against costs of delayed patients.

Keywords: queueing theory; geriatric medicine; bed occupancy; hospital costs model (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2002
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (24)

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DOI: 10.1057/palgrave.jors.2601244

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