Patient flow through the central surgery unit at Haukeland Universitetssykehus – A System Dynamic approch

Abstract

The Central operation division at Haukeland Universitets sykehus is considered to be the”hart” of the hospital. At the same time surgery units are often singled out as anorganizational unit that can constitute a bottleneck in the hospital and it is important toidentify bottleneck leading to a sub-optimal flow through the unit. The main objective of thisthesis is to investigate how the patient flow can be improved through a change in the structureunderlying the problems at the Central operation division. The system dynamic method isemployed and the study seeks, through modelling and simulation, to identify bottlenecks orproblems that hinder a smooth and efficient patient flow at the surgery unit and identify andtest structural modifications (policies) that may be implemented in the hospital.