Memorial Hospital Emergency Department

Of the many challenges confronting hospital-based emergency and trauma care today, one of the most serious is that capacity. As reported in the IOM Committee's Hospital-Based Emergency Care:


Between 1993 and 2003, ED visits increased from 90.3 to 113.9 million, a 26 percent increase. During this same period, the United States experienced a net loss of 425 hospital EDs.... The result of this growing imbalance between demand and capacity is a nationwide epidemic of ED overcrowding, boarding, and ambulance diversion (p. 19).


To prepare for this Discussion:


  • Read the scenario about Memorial Hospital Emergency Department on pages 1718 in the IOM Committee's Hospital-Based Emergency Care: At the Breaking Point, http://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=11621&page=17

  • Identify specific capacity management issues facing this ED, such as bottlenecks, and possible causes for these.

  • Review Chapter 5 in Health Care Operations Management, and Chapter 2 in Quantitative Methods in Health Care Management to identify forecasting methods that might be appropriate in the ED. What can and should be forecast in an ED? What kinds of quantitative forecasts and other capacity planning efforts might have helped Memorial Hospital's ED avoid the problems it faced in this scenario?

Post by Day 4 a response to the following:


  • Describe 2–3 capacity management issues facing the ED in this scenario, and identify likely causes for them.

  • Discuss two specific kinds of forecasts or other methods involving capacity planning that managers at Memorial Hospital's ED might have conducted to help avert the problems it faced in this scenario. What are possible implications for managers and staff from these kinds of forecasts or capacity planning?

Read a selection of your colleagues' postings on both scenarios, selecting one posting to respond to from either this or the other Discussion thread.

Respond by Day 6 to at least one of your colleagues' postings on either of the Discussion threads in one or more of the following ways:


  • Ask a probing question.
  • Expand on the colleague’s posting with additional insight and resources.
  • Offer polite disagreement or critique, supported with evidence.

In addition to, but not in place of the above, you may:


  • Offer and support an opinion.
  • Validate an idea with your own experience.
  • Make a suggestion or comment that guides or facilitates the Discussion.

Return to this Discussion in a few days to read the responses to your initial posting. Note what you have learned and/or any insights you have gained as a result of the comments your colleagues made. No posting is required.

    • 9 years ago
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