Saturación en los servicios de urgencias: Análisis de cuatro hospitales de Medellín y simulación de estrategias
Emergency Department Overcrowding: A Four-Hospital Analysis in Medellín and a Strategy Simulation
Saturação nos serviços de urgência: Análise de quatro hospitais de Medellín e simulação de estratégias
Rev. gerenc. políticas salud; 17 (34), 2018
Publication year: 2018
Resumen Las urgencias médicas pueden saturarse debido a factores externos e internos al servicio. Esto se refleja en congestión, tiempos de espera elevados e insatisfacción de los usuarios. Identificar y simular estrategias para gestionar las urgencias médicas, procurando atenuar la saturación. Investigación exploratoria y analítica, con trabajo de campo en cuatro unidades de urgencias de Medellín y simulación de estrategias contra la saturación mediante dinámica de sistemas.
Las estrategias utilizadas son:
reorganizar el registro, remitir los pacientes que no requieren atención urgente, implementar consultorio fast-track e incrementar el traslado a pisos. Esta última es la estrategia más efectiva en la simulación. Aunque las estrategias de flujo pueden ayudar a resolver la saturación a partir de sus causas internas, como lo sugiere la literatura, su alcance es limitado. Se requieren estrategias de entrada, que no están al alcance del servicio, y estrategias de salida del sistema hospitalario. Es posible disminuir la saturación, concibiendo las urgencias y el hospital como dos elementos de un mismo sistema, de modo que se agilice el flujo de pacientes y se cuente con oferta adecuada de camas hospitalarias sin sobredimensionar la capacidad instalada.
Abstract Medical emergency services can be overcrowded due to both external and internal service factors. This is evinced in the congestion, longer waits, and dissatisfaction by the users. To identify and simulate strategies for processing medical emergency requests in order to mitigate the overcrowding. An exploratory and analytical research was conducted based on the field work at four emergency rooms in hospitals of Medellín; simulation strategies were then proposed against the overcrowded service with system dynamics.
The strategies included:
to reorganize the sign-in, refer to other places those patient not requiring emergency services, implement fast-track services, and increase the inpatient capacity. The last one becomes the most effective strategy in the simulation. While the flow strategies can help to solve the service overcrowding due to internal causes as suggested in the literature, these strategies are limited in their scope. The required patient sign-in strategies as well as the patient discharge strategies are not easy-to-do in these emergency rooms. Overcrowding can be reduced by thinking of the hospital and the emergency room as two elements in a single system, so that the patient flow can be speeded up; the bed number for inpatients must be improved without overflowing the hospital capacity.
Resumo As urgências médicas podem se saturar devido a fatores externos e internos ao serviço. Isso se reflete em congestão, tempos de espera elevados e insatisfação dos usuários. Identificar e simular estratégias para gerir as urgências médicas, procurando atenuar a saturação. Pesquisa exploratória e analítica, com trabalho de campo em quatro unidades de urgências de Medellín e simulação de estratégias contra a saturação mediante dinâmica de sistemas.