Simulation study of patient arrivals and doctors scheduling in a children's emergency department

Abstract

This paper aims to ascertain the optimal number of consultation rooms to operate so that patients with high severity medical conditions are attended to promptly, yet with capacity to spare for low severity patients but without fully providing for this latter group to be seen within a very short duration of time upon arrival. The research methodology is based on the concepts from simulation-based lean and six-sigma approach. The dynamic interactions between the fluctuation of patient arrivals and Doctor schedules are experimented through a discrete event simulation model. This paper describes the different stages of the research such as identifying the problem, analyzing the historical data, constructing the simulation model, as well as identifying the optimal Doctor schedules through simulation experiments. This paper illustrates the system dynamic behavior of the Emergency Department under study, and demonstrates the combination use of data analytics and simulation modeling in dealing with such complexities.