Simulation-based strategy development to relieve the burden on emergency care in Switzerland

To develop and evaluate relief measures, we (i) further developed the reference model “Input-Throughput-Output Model” for describing overloaded emergency departments according to Asplin et al. (2003) to describe overloaded emergency departments, (ii) statistically evaluated 914,000 emergency patient pathways, and (iii) simulated the throughput times of selected patient pathways. With regard to the strategic relief measures currently under discussion – such as digitization, patient flow control, point-of-care diagnostics, and interprofessional training and communication – our model-based analysis showed that intensified interprofessional training and communication in particular can contribute substantially to relieving the burden on emergency medicine.