Description:

As healthcare systems face increasing demands for high-quality, efficient care, facility design is crucial in meeting operational and patient-centered goals. Discrete Event Simulation (DES) is a cutting-edge tool that enables architects, planners, and healthcare professionals to visualize and optimize complex patient flows and resource utilization. This session showcases how DES was applied in two emergency departments and two multi-clinic buildings, addressing critical operational challenges and offering long-term design solutions. The speakers will discuss how across all four projects, DES provided a data-driven framework to test scenarios, evaluate performance metrics, and implement evidence-based design improvements. Attendees will leave with actionable strategies for incorporating DES into future healthcare facility design projects, ensuring operational efficiency and patient-centered care. 

Emergency Department Projects:

• Importance: DES was instrumental in modeling patient triage, treatment times, and discharge processes to accommodate current and future patient volumes.
• Challenges: Handling unpredictable patient influx, managing resource allocation, and reducing care delays in high-stakes environments.
• Lessons Learned: Simulation uncovered inefficiencies, prompting design adjustments that reduced congestion and improved patient flow. 

Multi-Clinic Building Projects:

• Importance: In multi-specialty clinics, DES helped optimize spatial layouts and resource sharing (e.g., imaging, labs) to streamline patient flows.
• Challenges: Predicting and coordinating department interactions and managing complex, overlapping patient journeys.
• Lessons Learned: Early DES integration allowed for flexible space planning and workflow improvements, enhancing staff efficiency and patient throughput. 

Presented in partnership with the AIA Academy of Architecture for Health, an AIA Knowledge Community.

Learning Objectives:

1. Understand the role of Discrete Event Simulation (DES) in healthcare facility design. 
2. Identify key challenges in implementing DES in healthcare design projects. 
3. Evaluate the impact of DES on optimizing patient flow and operational efficiency. 
4. Apply lessons learned from real-world case studies to future healthcare design projects. 

Speaker:

Zahra Zamani, PhD, EDAC

Director of Research| BSA

Moderator

Nick Faust, AIA, LEED AP, WELL AP, EDAC

Associate I Lawrence Group