Using Simulation to Analyze Patient Flows in a Hospital Emergency Department in Hong Kong

Abstract

This paper presents a case-study of applying simulation to analyze patient flows in a hospital emergency department in Hong Kong. The purpose of our work is to analyze the impact of the enhancements made to the system after the relocation of the emergency department. We developed a simulation model (using ARENA) to capture all the key relevant processes of the department. Using the simulation model, we evaluated the impact of possible changes to the system by running different scenarios. This provides a tool for the operations manager in the emergency department to "foresee" the impact on the daily operations when making possible changes (such as, adjusting staffing levels or shift times), and consequently make much better decisions. © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2014.