Using simulation in the architectural concept phase of an emergency department design

We describe an emergency care center simulation (ECC) project at Sarasota Memorial Hospital in Sarasota, Florida. The objective was to project bed requirements for an emergency care center expansion. The project team also analyzed the impact on downstream departments that are an integral part of the ECC. The simulation model was developed at a macro level and targeted the capacity requirements based on length of stay for each of the patient areas affected by the expansion. This macro-level model, used for the architectural concept phase, was designed to allow for enhancement into a micro-level model to analyze the detailed processes of the ECC once the basic concepts of layout, number of rooms and beds, and hours of operations were established.