Operations Research Contributions to Emergency Department Patient Flow Optimization: A Review

In recent years, Operations Research (OR) has had a signicant impact on improving the performance of hospital Emergency Departments (EDs). This includes improving a wide range of processes involving patient ow from the initial call to the ED through disposition, discharge home, or admission to the hospital. We mainly seek to illustrate the benet of OR in EDs, and provide an overview of research performed in this vein to assist both researchers and practitioners. We also elaborate on possibilities for future researchers by shedding light on some less studied aspects that can have valuable impacts on practice.