Improving the design and operation of an integrated emergency post via simulation

N J Borgman, M R K Mes, I M H Vliegen and E W Hans

Journal of Simulation, 2015, vol. 9, issue 2, 99-110

Abstract: In the Netherlands, patients with an acute care demand after office hours often wrongly choose to visit the emergency department (ED), while they could have visited the general practitioners’ post (GPP). This may lead to overcrowding and increased costs. In this paper, we focus on an Integrated Emergency Post (IEP) at a Dutch hospital, where the ED and the GPP have been merged into a single point of access for patients. To find the optimal process design for this new IEP, we use computer simulation incorporating patient preferences. We define many potential interventions, and compare these by categorizing and grouping them, and sequentially withdrawing ineffective interventions, while accounting for possible interaction effects. Results show a sustainable solution for all stakeholders involved, reducing patients’ length of stay up to 17%. Based on these results, an intervention has been trialled in practice, showing a decrease in patient LOS.

Date: 2015
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1057/jos.2014.5 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:tjsmxx:v:9:y:2015:i:2:p:99-110

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/tjsm20

DOI: 10.1057/jos.2014.5

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Simulation is currently edited by Christine Currie

More articles in Journal of Simulation from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().