181. Choosing pathways through hospital care for older persons
Invited abstract in session FA-3: Elderly care, stream Sessions.
Friday, 9:00-10:30Room: NTNU, Realfagbygget R9
Authors (first author is the speaker)
| 1. | Yvonne Li
|
| Statistics, University of Auckland | |
| 2. | Ilze Ziedins
|
| University of Auckland | |
| 3. | Michael O'Sullivan
|
| Engineering Science, University of Auckland | |
| 4. | Cameron Walker
|
| Engineering Department, University of Auckland |
Abstract
Hospitals aim to allocate limited bed resources fairly while ensuring timely care for urgent patients. Our work was motivated by challenges at Waikato Hospital in Aotearoa New Zealand, which provides integrated care for urgent patients, primarily older adults, in its Older Persons and Rehabilitation (OPR) unit. Non-urgent patients may also be admitted to the OPR when beds are available; however, if the unit reaches capacity, urgent patients will be admitted to general wards, where service times are longer.
We have developed a compartmental model for patient admissions to OPR and general wards. Our model considers heterogeneous arrival and service rates across three different patient priority classes: urgent, non-urgent, and elective, and includes readmissions. We use a simulation model to test various thresholds for non-urgent admissions to OPR, to evaluate their impact on bed occupancy and the probability of urgent patients being diverted to general wards. Simulation results can assist in setting safe admission thresholds for non-urgent patients while ensuring that urgent care is not compromised.
Keywords
- Modelling and simulation
- Capacity and network planning
- Care Pathways
Status: accepted
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