I read with great interest the article by Alavi-Moghaddam et al. (1) in which the authors concluded that application of the queuing theory analysis can improve movement and reduce the waiting times of patients in bottlenecks within the emergency department (ED) in Iran. As an epidemiologist in Morocco, I divide the frustration of the authors that throughput of patients in the emergency departme...

One of the most critical objectives in healthcare system is maximising patient flows emergency care pathway. Patient flow analysis indicates that timetabling a patient’s movement from one activity to another through Emergency Department (ED) for treating patients. The ED deals with arrival, triage, physician assessment, imaging and laboratory studies, treatment planning, nursing procedures, dec...

I read with great interest the article entitled “Application of Queuing Analytic Theory to Decrease Waiting Times in Emergency Department: Does it Make Sense?” in the autumn issue of Archives of Trauma Research (1). As an emergency physician in the United States, I can share the frustration of the authors that throughput of patients in the emergency department can often be hindered by numerous ...

A mismatch between patient demand and emergency departments (EDs)’ capacity to deliver care often leads poor flow overcrowding, therefore an increase in waiting. This paper presents a mid-term decision support system dealing with scheduling allocation of resources the ED Hospital Center Troyes, France. An efficient performance evaluation tool based on discrete event simulation (DES) is develope...

Introduction: An approach to building a hybrid simulation of patient flow is introduced with a combination of data-driven methods for automation of model identification. The approach is described with a conceptual framework and basic methods for combination of different techniques. The implementation of the proposed approach for simulation of acute coronary syndrome (ACS) was developed and used...

The efficiency of emergency departments (EDs) in handling patient surges during disaster times using the available resources is very important. Many EDs require additional resources to overcome the bottlenecks in emergency systems. The assumption is that EDs consider the option of temporary staff dispatching, among other options, in order to respond to an increased demand or even the hiring tem...

In this paper, we apply both agent-based models and queuing models to investigate patient access and patient flow through emergency departments. The objective of this work is to gain insights into the comparative contributions and limitations of these complementary techniques, in their ability to contribute empirical input into healthcare policy and practice guidelines. The models were develope...

Emergency departments (EDs) face significant challenges in providing timely care due to the increase patient volume and limited resources. To improve flow management, new strategies based on artificial intelligence, machine learning, computer modeling, simulation have been developed, including serious games virtual reality. We performed a systematic review of use reality train healthcare profes...

We describe an agent based model of an emergency department and its utility for evaluating workflow and assessing patient diversion policies. The overall goal of the research is to develop tools to better understand and manage emergency departments. There are several modes in which agent based modeling tools may be of benefit. In a self contained manner the operation of an emergency department ...