Operations management solutions to improve ED patient flows: evidence from the Italian NHS

Table 1 Main characteristics of the ten hospitals included in the study

Hospital	Ownership	Bed size	ED type^a
A	Private Nonprofit Teaching Hospital	1,154	Level II
B	Public–Private Partnership Non-Teaching Hospital	615	Level II
C	Public Hospital within an LHA	230	General
D	Public Hospital within an LHA	618	Level II
E	Public Hospital within an LHA	355	Level II
F	Public Hospital within an LHA	238	General
G	Public Independent Teaching Hospital	547	Level II
H	Public Independent Teaching Hospital	1,121	Level II
I	Public Hospital within an LHA	184	Level I
L	Public Independent Teaching Hospital	271	Level II

^aWithin the Italian NHS, there are three different levels of hospitals emergency units: (i) level II ED for the most complicated cases, with the presence of the highly specialized centres such as a trauma centre, organ transplants and neurosurgery, and catchment area between 600,000 and 1,200,000 inhabitants, with a number of yearly access instances higher than 70,000; (ii) level I emergency unit capable of treating all clinical conditions, and catchment area of 150,000/300,000 inhabitants and approximately 45,000 yearly access instances; and (iii) general emergency hospitals that guarantee emergency access but not high specialization, and catchment area of 80,000/150,000 inhabitants and no more than 20,000 access instances per year

ISSN: 1472-6963