The hospital discharge process through a computer program. Computer simulation model; [El proceso del alta hospitalaria mediante un programa informático. Modelo de simulación computarizada]

Abstract

The hospital discharge process, from the moment of the discharge order until the patient leaves the hospital, plays a key role in hospital patient management. Improving the discharge process is an important strategy that has links to many hospital activities. The process of discharge is the most important stage affecting the patient’s satisfaction. If this process takes long, it makes patients dissatisfy but it also will not be beneficial for the hospital. In this research, the main objective is analysing the discharge process at Kashani Hospital in Isfahan, Iran. The process may be formulated as a network of queues, and will be analyzed by discrete event simulation. The main factors affecting average waiting time are patients’ financial problems, unnecessary activities and insurance confirmation. Simul8, a visual simulation software, is used to show how the proposed strategies will affect the waiting times in the discharge process. © 2015, Ediciones Medicas del Sur S.R.L.. All rights reserved.