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An Organizational Metamodel for Hospital Emergency Departments

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 November 2014

Kubilay Kaptan
Kubilay Kaptan*
Affiliation:
Center for Disaster Resilience, International Blue Crescent Relief and Development Foundation, Istanbul, Turkey.
*
Correspondence and reprint requests to Kubilay Kaptan, PhD, Director, Center for Disaster Resilience, International Blue Crescent Relief and Development Foundation, Istanbul, Turkey (e-mail: kaptankubilay@gmail.com).
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Abstract

I introduce an organizational model describing the response of the hospital emergency department. The hybrid simulation/analytical model (called a “metamodel”) can estimate a hospital’s capacity and dynamic response in real time and incorporate the influence of damage to structural and nonstructural components on the organizational ones. The waiting time is the main parameter of response and is used to evaluate the disaster resilience of health care facilities. Waiting time behavior is described by using a double exponential function and its parameters are calibrated based on simulated data. The metamodel covers a large range of hospital configurations and takes into account hospital resources in terms of staff and infrastructures, operational efficiency, and the possible existence of an emergency plan; maximum capacity; and behavior both in saturated and overcapacitated conditions. The sensitivity of the model to different arrival rates, hospital configurations, and capacities and the technical and organizational policies applied during and before a disaster were investigated. This model becomes an important tool in the decision process either for the engineering profession or for policy makers.(Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2014;8:436-444)

Keywords

Damagedisaster resiliencehospitalhospital capacityorganizational modelmetamodel

Information

Type
Concepts in Disaster Medicine
Information
Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness , Volume 8 , Issue 5 , October 2014 , pp. 436 - 444
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Inc. 2014 

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