Beds Simulator 1.0: a software for the modelisation of the number of beds required for a hospital department.

Area of Science:

• Health services research
• Operations research
• Hospital management

Background:

• Hospital bed capacity planning is a complex challenge.
• Current methods often lack local specificity or are too department-specific.
• Existing models frequently rely heavily on Length of Stay (LoS) data.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a novel, non-parametric method for determining optimal hospital bed numbers.
• To create a flexible model applicable across diverse hospital departments and settings.
• To provide a user-friendly software solution for hospital bed capacity management.

Main Methods:

• Development of a non-parametric modeling approach.
• Testing the model in various hospital settings (teaching and non-teaching).
• Validation across different departments including Intensive Care Units, Internal Medicine, and Surgery.

Main Results:

• Successful model validation in diverse hospital environments and departments.
• Demonstrated applicability beyond traditional ratio-based or overly specific models.
• The developed method effectively addresses the complexity of hospital bed forecasting.

Conclusions:

• The non-parametric method provides a robust and adaptable solution for hospital bed capacity planning.
• The developed software facilitates practical implementation in healthcare settings.
• This approach improves upon existing methods by considering local specificities and offering broader applicability.