the impact of different decision behavior models of emergency physicians on the performance of emergency departments
Emergency departments (EDs) continually face the problem of overcrowding and poor efficiency. The aim of our study is to construct a simulation model for the emergency department (ED), in order to evaluate the impact of behaviors of the emergency physicians (EPs) on the efficiency of the ED. Conventional behavior is a partly random selection between works to be done, while the other model promises reasonable physician waiting time with the help of the scheduling technique of earliest due date. Our simulations show that different decision models of the EP affected the efficiency of the system. The earliest due time model performed better than the conventional model in terms of physician waiting time (7.94 min vs. 22.13 min), but this improvement in turn shortened the disposition time needed for patients receiving only short treatments (58.36 min vs. 77.92 min), and that in the comprehensive treatment group (149.57 min vs. 168.21 min). The improvement of performance in earliest due time model on efficiency of disposition was offset when we simulated that the monthly ED volume increased from 4000 to 4400 patients (25\% vs. -13\% in short treatment group, and 11\% vs. -7\% in comprehensive treatment group, respectively).
performance emergency department waiting time earliest due date triage physician behavior