Title: Analysing a queueing network of the emergency department with deteriorating health in post-disaster situations

Authors: Sara Benvidi; Tooba Asghari; Amir Aghsami; Fariborz Jolai

Addresses: School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Tehran, P.O. Box 11155-4563, Tehran, Iran ' School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Tehran, P.O. Box 11155-4563, Tehran, Iran ' School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Tehran, P.O. Box 11155-4563, Tehran, Iran; School of Industrial Engineering, K.N. Toosi University of Technology, P.O. Box 15875-4416, Tehran, Iran ' School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Tehran, P.O. Box 11155-4563, Tehran, Iran

Abstract: Providing appropriate healthcare services in emergency departments (ED) after a disaster is a good way to reduce casualties. This study attempts to model an ED as a three-stage queue with a deteriorating patient's health condition where the system experiences a disaster. Triage has been considered as the primary stage which classifies patients into two types. The paper aims to present the best budget planning and capacity planning to minimise total death and waiting times. Queueing networks are used to model the mentioned situation. Finally, three mathematical formulations are accompanied by numerical experiments. We observed the behaviour of each model to support managers in policy makings. We conclude that exigent plays a significant role in the total death number and service rate of triage and semi-urgent, significantly impacting the total waiting time.

Keywords: emergency department; healthcare; Markovian queueing systems; budget and capacity planning; triage; deterioration; disaster.

DOI: 10.1504/IJOR.2023.134782

International Journal of Operational Research, 2023 Vol.48 No.3, pp.397 - 428

Received: 17 Dec 2019
Accepted: 08 Mar 2021
Published online: 10 Nov 2023 *

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