Annals of emergency medicine
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The Flex Track: Flexible Partitioning Between Low- and High-Acuity Areas of an Emergency Department.
Emergency departments (EDs) with both low- and high-acuity treatment areas often have fixed allocation of resources, regardless of demand. We demonstrate the utility of discrete-event simulation to evaluate flexible partitioning between low- and high-acuity ED areas to identify the best operational strategy for subsequent implementation. ⋯ Using discrete-event simulation, we have shown that adding some flexibility into bed allocation between low and high acuity can provide substantial reductions in overall patient waiting and a more efficient ED.