Simulation and Goal Programming Approach to Improve Public Hospital Emergency Department Resource Allocation

Abstract

Efficient and effective operation of an emergency department is necessary. Since patients can visit the emergency department without making an appointment, the emergency department always treats a lot of critical patients. Moreover, the severity of the ailment determines which patients should be prioritized. Therefore, the patients are greatly impacted as a consequence of longer waiting times caused primarily by incorrect resource allocation. It frequently happens that patients leave the hospital or waiting area without treatment. Certainly, the emergency department’s operation can be made more effective and efficient by examining its work and making modifications to the number of resources and their allocation. This study, therefore, investigates the emergency department of a public hospital to improve its functioning. The goal of this research is to model and simulate an emergency department to minimize patient wait times and also minimize the number of patients leaving the hospital without service. A comprehensive simulation model is developed using the Arena simulation platform and goal programming is undertaken to conduct simulation optimization and resource allocation analysis. Hospital management should realize that all resources must be prioritized rather than just focusing on one or two of them. The case scenario (S3) in this study that implements goal programming with variable weights yields the most favorable results. For example, it is observed in this instance that the number of patients leaving the system without service drops by 61.7%, and there is also a substantial drop in waiting times for various types of patients.