What impact would reducing low-acuity attendance have on emergency department length of stay? A discrete event simulation modelling study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Long waiting times in the ED have been shown to cause negative outcomes for patients. This study aims to assess the effect in reducing length of stay of (1) preventing low-acuity attenders from attending the ED and (2) diverting low-acuity attenders at triage to a colocated general practice (GP) service.

Methods

Discrete event simulation was used to model a large urban teaching hospital in the UK, as a case study, with a colocated GP service. The Centre for Urgent and Emergency Care research database patient-level database (May 2015-April 2016), secondary literature and expert elicitation were used to inform the model. The model predicted length of stay, the percentage of patients being seen within 4 hours and the incremental cost-effectiveness of the colocated GP

SUBMITTER: Squires H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10804000 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature