Optimizing Emergency Department Patient Flow Through Bed Allocation Strategies: A Discrete-Event Simulation Study.

ABSTRACT: Emergency department (ED) overcrowding and prolonged length of stay (LOS) remain critical issues in healthcare systems. This study compared 4 bed allocation strategies to optimize patient flow and resource utilization in a regional teaching hospital in Taiwan. A discrete-event simulation model was developed using 1 year hospital data from January 2022, including 29 718 ED visits. The following strategies were evaluated: (1) intra-departmental bed sharing, (2) optimized bed allocation, (3) cross-departmental bed lending with 5% capacity, and (4) combined optimization with bed borrowing. The model was validated by t-tests comparing the simulation outputs with actual hospital data. Results: All strategies demonstrated improvement compared to current operations. Of these, Strategy 4, co

SUBMITTER: Wang ST 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12041687 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jan-Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature