Simulating the influence of a 45% increase in patient volume on the emergency department of Akershus University Hospital

A 45% increase in patient volume will have significant influence on the patient flow of an Emergency Department (ED). This is expected for Akershus University Hospital in 2011 when the catchment area increases from 340,000 to 500,000 inhabitants. An important question for the hospital management is: What is the lowest number of additional resources that would be needed in the ED, due to the patient volume increase, which would not compromise the patient flow? This is evaluated through various scenarios of discrete event simulation models. The results show that increasing the nurse capacity from eight to nine nurses, and increasing from eight to 12 physicians is sufficient to meet these needs.