The Post-earthquake Crowdedness of a First-aid Hospital by Non-urgent Patients

The Post-earthquake Crowdedness of a First-aid Hospital by Non-urgent Patients

The purpose of this study is to analyze the impact of a group of earthquake-induced nonurgent patients on hospital performance. This paper takes the emergency care system in Taiwan as the research context, where first-aid hospitals are ranked according to three levels, advanced, intermediate, and general, with a current emphasis on a general emergency responsibility hospital. A healthcare performance index, Crowdedness Index (CI), is proposed to measure crowdedness on a daily basis. Results of simulations rendered the establishment of empirical equations, describing the relationship between maximum CIs and patient growth ratios. Findings are provided pertaining to the predication of a recovery curve and the alarming level of patient increase, which are supportive information for preparedness planning as well as response measure formulation to improve resilience.