Functionality analysis of emergency departments: A case study

The functionality of the Emergency Department of a hospital complex has been evaluated in this work for an emergency scenario due to a seismic event. The functionality of the Emergency Department has been measured using the waiting time for treatment of the patients as the response parameter. The analysis has been applied to a case-study, selected after a wider analysis of the health network in an Italian region of Tuscany. The functionality in the case-study has been checked in respect to both normal (current) and emergency scenarios, by using a software able to consider the main factors, such as an effective plan of the Emergency Department, the size of active personnel and its working hours, the rate-of-arrival of patients and the adopted protocol. The numerical simulations have been performed both in normal and emergency situations. The results of the former were used for model validation and further compared to the later in acute emergencies. The emergency scenario was developed for an earthquake compatible with the seismic hazard of the case-study's area.

Automated summary

The functionality of the Emergency Department of a hospital complex was evaluated in this study for an emergency scenario caused by a seismic event. The waiting time for treatment of patients was used as the response parameter. The study found that the functionality of the Emergency Department is influenced by various factors in both normal and emergency situations, including the size of active personnel, working hours, patient arrival rate, and adopted protocols.