Document Type

Article

Rights

Available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike 4.0 International Licence

Disciplines

Business and Management.

Publication Details

European Journal of Operational Research, Volume 224, Issue

1, 1 January 2013, Pages 154-166, ISSN 0377-2217,

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2012.07.028.

Abstract

The global economic crisis has a significant impact on healthcare resource provision worldwide. The management of limited healthcare resources is further challenged by the high level of uncertainty in demand, which can lead to unbalanced utilisation of the available resources and a potential deterioration of patient satisfaction in terms of longer waiting times and perceived reduced quality of services. Therefore, healthcare managers require timely and accurate tools to optimise resource utility in a complex and ever-changing patient care process. An interactive simulation-based decision support framework is presented in this paper for healthcare process improvement. Complexity and different levels of variability within the process are incorporated into the process modelling phase, followed by developing a simulation model to examine the impact of potential alternatives. As a performance management tool, balanced scorecard (BSC) is incorporated within the framework to support continual and sustainable improvement by using strategic-linked performance measures and actions. These actions are evaluated by the simulation model developed, whilst the trade-off between objectives, though somewhat conflicting, is analysed by a preference model. The preference model is designed in an interactive and iterative process considering decision makers preferences regarding the selected key performance indicators (KPIs). A detailed implementation of the framework is demonstrated on an emergency department (ED) of an adult teaching hospital in north Dublin, Ireland. The results show that the unblocking of ED outflows by in-patient bed management is more effective than increasing only the ED physical capacity or the ED workforce.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.21427/D7V49R

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