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Integrated decision support systems for improving emergency department performance in Irish hospitals

Author

Listed:
  • Khaled Ismail
  • Michael Thorwarth
  • Amr Arisha

Abstract

In addition to the system's complexity and uncertainty, healthcare managers face many challenges, including the increasing levels of demand and patient expectations at the time of more budget constraints enforced on healthcare service in Ireland. The delivery of a better patient care requires effective decision making especially in planning of healthcare resources. For an emergency department (ED) of a leading university hospital in the south of Dublin City, a decision support application for resource planning considering multiple performance indicators was developed. A comprehensive discrete event simulation model was used to identify the most significant variables and key factors that affect the ED performance. Combining this model with Taguchi orthogonal arrays and data envelopment analysis in an integrated manner helps to improve decision-making procedure in terms of systematic scenarios' selection and evaluation. The developed system is used for resource planning and also to assess risks due to the shortage of medical staff of the emergency department. Results show the importance of balancing doctor numbers employed within ED in order to maintain reasonable patient throughput time.

Suggested Citation

  • Khaled Ismail & Michael Thorwarth & Amr Arisha, 2014. "Integrated decision support systems for improving emergency department performance in Irish hospitals," International Journal of Operational Research, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 19(1), pages 40-59.
  • Handle: RePEc:ids:ijores:v:19:y:2014:i:1:p:40-59
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Sebastian Kohl & Jan Schoenfelder & Andreas Fügener & Jens O. Brunner, 2019. "The use of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) in healthcare with a focus on hospitals," Health Care Management Science, Springer, vol. 22(2), pages 245-286, June.
    2. Michael Thorwarth & Wael Rashwan & Amr Arisha, 2016. "An analytical representation of flexible resource allocation in hospitals," Flexible Services and Manufacturing Journal, Springer, vol. 28(1), pages 148-165, June.
    3. Nurhafiza Md Hamzah & Kok Fong See, 2019. "Technical efficiency and its influencing factors in Malaysian hospital pharmacy services," Health Care Management Science, Springer, vol. 22(3), pages 462-474, September.
    4. Simone Fanelli & Marco Ferretti & Antonello Zangrandi, 2017. "The impact of regional policies on emergency department management and performance: the case of the regional government of Sicily," International Journal of Health Planning and Management, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(1), pages 83-98, January.

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