Who Is Next: Patient Prioritization Under Emergency Department Blocking
研究医生和护士在急诊科如何选择下一个治疗的患者，发现临床因素和资源约束共同影响决策，优先处理可出院患者以避免阻塞，并通过模拟证明该行为能减少等待时间和住院时长，节省医院成本。
In “Who Is Next: Patient Prioritization Under Emergency Department Blocking,” Li, Sun, and Hong study how physicians and nurses choose the next patient for treatment in hospital emergency departments (EDs). Using data from a tertiary hospital in Alberta, Canada, they conduct an empirical investigation and find that both clinical factors and resource constraints are considered in patient-prioritization decisions. In particular, discharged patients are prioritized when ED beds are increasingly occupied by boarding patients so as to avoid further blocking the ED. A stylized model is developed to explain the rationale behind the prioritization behavior. Using a simulation study, they show such behavior can improve ED operations by reducing the average patient waiting time and length of stay without adding extra capacity, which results in significant cost savings for hospitals.