Reactive Control System to Manage Strain Situations in Emergency Departments

Current dysfunctions observed in emergency departments (EDs) are mainly due to the unsuitable organization, constraints and changes in their missions, as well as the mismanagement of process flows (patients, information's, resources, etc.). This often results in strain situations. ED managers must master these problems, as well as the internal restructuring reflected by resource pooling, including technical platforms. To make these decisions, they need an adapted decision support system to anticipate and manage such situations. This paper focuses on the development of decision-making model for reactive control of strain situations in EDs. The target is to help ED managers in the choice and the implementation of appropriate corrective actions to manage each potential occurrence of these situations. A case study is used to evaluate the reactive management of strain situations in the paediatric emergency department (PED) at Lille regional hospital centre, France.