Wait time in emergency department (ED) processes

Emergency Department (ED) provides urgency clinical and Para clinical care for patients who injured in accidents and incidents. Simulation is one of the decision supporting techniques that analyze risk factors and strategies in decision-making.

The aim of this study was to determine the waiting time in emergency department services at Ayatolahkashani Hospital to propose scenarios for reducing waiting time.

This study was an analytical and cross-sectional in which data collected by forms and observations. Population included waiting and service time in all stations related to ED's treatment processes along with diagnostic departments (e.g. Laboratory, Radiology, Ultrasonography, and C-T Scan) over a two-week period for 663 patients. For data analysis, SPSS software and simulation technique were used.

Results show that add one intern to the Ear Nose Throat (ENT) service makes the most reduction on the waiting time from 112.19 to 99.24 minutes. In this option the mean of ENT services time will be reduced to 26.54 minutes, neurology services time will be reduced to 6.58 minutes and the mean of orthopedic services time were reduced to 5.98 minutes.

Health care managers, in the ED are usually physicians who are not familiar with principals of management. Hence, they need simple tools for logical decision-making. Operation research methods such as simulation should be suitable for them.