Emergency Department Optimization and Load Prediction in Hospitals
This work provides an incremental solution for emergency department staff to better allocate resources by predicting patient load.
This paper addresses the challenge of increasing patient volume in emergency departments (EDs) by developing a machine learning-powered tool to forecast ED arrivals and patient volume. The tool was deployed in a suburban ED in the Pacific Northwest to assist with resource allocation.
Over the past several years, across the globe, there has been an increase in people seeking care in emergency departments (EDs). ED resources, including nurse staffing, are strained by such increases in patient volume. Accurate forecasting of incoming patient volume in emergency departments (ED) is crucial for efficient utilization and allocation of ED resources. Working with a suburban ED in the Pacific Northwest, we developed a tool powered by machine learning models, to forecast ED arrivals and ED patient volume to assist end-users, such as ED nurses, in resource allocation. In this paper, we discuss the results from our predictive models, the challenges, and the learnings from users' experiences with the tool in active clinical deployment in a real world setting.