A System Approach to Study Waiting Times at Emergency Departments in Metropolitan Environments

Abstract

Providing quality emergency care is one of the biggest challenges faced in healthcare today. This article lays the groundwork for operating and planning emergency care provision in metropolitan environments using a system approach that goes beyond studying each emergency department in isolation. The approach consists of the development of an agent-based simulation using a bottom-up approach modeling patients, doctors, hospitals, and their interactions. The simulation is validated against real historical data of waiting times in the Stockholm region. Through experimentation with the simulation, changing the way patients choose emergency departments in metropolitan areas through the provision of information in real-time is shown to have generally a positive effect on waiting times and the quality of care. The simulation analysis shows that the effects are not uniform over the whole system and its agents.