Invalid Action Masking in Emergency Patient Scheduling.

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Management
• Artificial Intelligence in Medicine
• Operations Research

Background:

• German emergency departments (EDs) face critical workforce shortages.
• These shortages impede timely and effective acute care delivery.
• Optimizing patient flow is crucial for ED efficiency.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the application of invalid action masking for enhancing patient scheduling in German EDs.
• To reduce the processing time of patient treatment pathways.
• To alleviate the burden on clinical staff.

Main Methods:

• Implementation of invalid action masking algorithms.
• Analysis of patient scheduling and throughput data.
• Simulation of treatment pathway processing.

Main Results:

• Demonstrated potential for invalid action masking to optimize patient scheduling.
• Identified reduction in time spent on patient treatment pathways.
• Showcased a method to improve ED efficiency and staff workload.

Conclusions:

• Invalid action masking offers a promising approach to address ED operational challenges.
• This technique can improve patient throughput and reduce clinical staff burden.
• Further research is warranted to implement and validate these findings in real-world ED settings.