Intensive care unit and ward beds, and human resources capacity planning in a cardiac surgical theater using a hybrid multi-criteria decision-making and simulation approach

Operating room (OR) is one of the most costly and crucial areas of a hospital. As a result, the decisions made in this section have a substantial impact on the hospital's overall performance. Any effective solution for the challenges faced in OR resource allocation will boost the performance of this department. The availability of an intensive care unit (ICU) is a critical element in conducting surgical procedures, particularly for patients undergoing heart surgery who require immediate ICU monitoring. In this study, a simulation-based strategy is used to improve the performance of the cardiac surgical theater. First, several scenarios are considered for ICU and ward beds via an experimental design. The optimal number of ICU and ward beds is then estimated using an integrated methodology, including discrete event simulation (DES) and multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM). Afterward, it is explored whether adding one extra nurse can impact the nurse workload and other performance indicators. Finally, the study evaluates the impact of the simulation model's recommended number of ICU and ward beds on the performance of the cardiac surgical theater.