IN-PATIENT FLOW ANALYSIS USING PROMODEL (TM) SIMULATION PACKAGE

This paper emphasizes the basic modeling approach of general in-patient flow in a major hospital in the East Coast region. Simulation was used to analyze the inpatient flow. The first objective of this study was to determine the bottlenecks for in-in-patient flow. In order to understand the general in-patient flow, some emphasis was also given to the other units such as Medical-Surgical, Telemetry, Intensive Care Units (ICU), etc. Second objective was to study the impact of bed availability on the waiting time of admitted patients in ED before being transferred to assigned beds in other units of the hospital. A preliminary model was developed and validated based on the data collected for the selected time periods (busy four months). Different "what-if" scenarios were studied. This paper presents the basic model and its results. Key Words: simulation, in-patient flow, health scienc