Emergency department simulations: medicine for building effective models

This paper discusses proven practices for developing emergency department (ED) simulations based on recent project success. From human decisions to political agendas, an ED is filled with unpredictable elements, making it a difficult environment to model. However, the key decision-making information that was uncovered from a study is worth the effort. This paper thoroughly analyzed each step of a typical ED simulation project, identifying key areas of focus and tips for success. Defining the objective, process map, scenarios, outputs and animation requirements are the first steps. A system for gathering the ED data was discussed, as well as advice for the verification and validation phases. Finally, the presentation of the findings was analyzed. No part an ED simulation project should be discounted. This paper stresses the dependency of each phase on the successful outcome of the entire project.