Mixing Scheduled Patients with Walk-In Patients at Collaborative Emergency Centres

Abstract

The Collaborative Emergency Centre (CEC) care model was initiated by the Nova Scotia Department of Health and Wellness in 2010. The CEC model of care appears to be a promising way to reorganize and improve emergency care for rural Nova Scotians. In this thesis, the focus is on improving operations of the daytime CEC where providers see patients who are scheduled, who walk-in, and who return from the nighttime CEC. The models developed in this thesis support the physician in determining how many patients to schedule and when to schedule them. The appointment scheduling system considers the unique characteristics of CECs. The number, and pseudo-optimal placement of scheduled appointments is determined with a simulated annealing procedure that uses computer simulation as the method of performance evaluation.