Seismic Risk Assessment of an Emergency Department of a Chilean Hospital Using a Patient-Oriented Performance Model
Loading...
Date
2019
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
After an earthquake, hospital emergency departments need to provide continuous health care
services to respond to the eventual sudden increase in injured people. The service
performance of an emergency department is influenced by internal factors, such as physical
damage and staff availability, and external factors, such as an increased patient arrival rate
and disruptions in its supply chain. This research presents a quantification methodology for
the performance of the emergency department. The novelty of the proposed approach lies in
the explicit integration of the inelastic structural and nonstructural response of the building and
damage with its loss of functionality, downtime, and emergency patient treatment rate. A
discrete event simulation model is used to model the flow of patients within the different units
of the emergency department. The seismic risk is expressed as return periods of exceeding
different levels of patient waiting times. Results show that 1,000 and 30,000 accumulated
waiting hours correspond to return periods of 100 and 1,000 years, respectively. It is
concluded that this model may contribute to improving the risk management of critical
emergency department infrastructure.