Simulation Model for Improving the Operation of the Emergency Department of Special Health Care

This paper presents a simulation model which describes the operations in the Emergency Department of Special Health Care at the Central Hospital of Jyvaskyla, Finland. It can be used to test different process scenarios, allocate resources and perform activity based cost analysis. By using the simulation model we demonstrate a new operational method, which makes the operation of the Emergency Department of Special Health Care more effective. This operational method is called the triage-team method and it has been studied from two different points of view. The results showed that this method improves the operation of the Emergency Department of Special Health Care substantially (over 25%), if it is implemented properly and includes all the necessary tasks