The flex track: flexible partitioning between low- and high-acuity areas of an emergency department.

ABSTRACT:

Study objective

Emergency departments (EDs) with both low- and high-acuity treatment areas often have fixed allocation of resources, regardless of demand. We demonstrate the utility of discrete-event simulation to evaluate flexible partitioning between low- and high-acuity ED areas to identify the best operational strategy for subsequent implementation.

Methods

A discrete-event simulation was used to model patient flow through a 50-bed, urban, teaching ED that handles 85,000 patient visits annually. The ED has historically allocated 10 beds to a fast track for low-acuity patients. We estimated the effect of a flex track policy, which involved switching up to 5 of these fast track beds to serving both low- and high-acuity patients, on patient waiting times. When the high-acui

SUBMITTER: Laker LF 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4252573 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature