Improving Patients Experience in an Emergency Department using Systems Engineering Approach

Abstract

Healthcare industry in United States of America is facing a big paradox. Although US is a leader in the industry of medical devices, medical practices and medical researches, however there isnt enough satisfaction and quality in performance of US healthcare operations. Despite the big investments and budgets associated with US healthcare, there are big threats to US healthcare operational side, that reduces the quality of care. In this research study, a step by step Systems Engineering approach is applied to improve healthcare delivery process in an Emergency Department of a hospital located in Indianapolis, Indiana. In this study, different type of systems engineering tools and techniques are used to improve the quality of care and patients satisfaction in ED of Eskenazi hospital. Having a simulation model will help to have a better understanding of the ED process and learn more about the bottlenecks of the process. Simulation model is verified and validated using different techniques like applying extreme and moderate conditions and comparing model results with historical data. 4 different what if scenarios are proposed and tested to find out about possible LOS improvements. Additionally, those scenarios are tested in both regular and an increased patient arrival rate. The optimal selected what-if scenario can reduce the LOS by 37 minutes compared to current ED setting. Additionally, by increasing the patient arrival rate patients may stay in the ED up to 6 hours. However, with the proposed ED setting, patients will only spend an additional 106 minutes compared to the regular patient arrival rate.