Open AccessEmergency Department Patient Flow Simulations Using Spreadsheets
Author(s) -
Michael Klein,
Gilles Reinhardt
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
simulation in healthcare
Language(s) - Uncategorized
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.685
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1559-713X
pISSN - 1559-2332
DOI - 10.1097/sih.0b013e3182301005
Subject(s) - computer science , software , popularity , coding (social sciences) , discrete event simulation , simulation , industrial engineering , programming language , engineering , statistics , mathematics , psychology , social psychology
Patient flow computer simulations allow Emergency Department stakeholders to assess operational interventions, develop utilization and performance measures, and produce estimates for budgeting or planning purposes. Key challenges of traditional discrete-event computer simulation software are their inherent complexity for modeling, coding, or analyzing output and their significant costs and training. We propose a simulation platform that runs in spreadsheets. Because of their low cost, popularity and powerful functionality and performance, spreadsheets also allow for the development and management of simulations that efficiently output results that are just as reliable as those from traditional software.