[Simulation of a hospital emergency department and its potential use in management].

We developed a computer simulation model of Emergency Department Operations of the Hospital Ntra. Sra. del Pino as a queue system. We designed and analyzed alternative functional structures of the Department and their implications on resources organization and reallocation. We programmed the operations, relations and flows between the components of the system with the simulation language SIMSCRIPT II.5. We have designed alternative configurations to assess how technical efficiency could be improved through the reallocation of human resources; how the system react would to interarrival time of patients changes; and what decisions must be taken about resources allocation in order to improve efficiency. Triage, Emergency Laboratory and radiology have the maximum average waiting times (11, 31 and 12 minutes, respectively). Some alternative organization patterns may improve this problem. Their social cost is also quantified in this work.