Hospital unit demand forecasting tool

Abstract

An embodiment in accordance with the present invention provides a method of forecasting a demand for a particular hospital unit. The method can be executed by programming the steps into a computer readable medium. One step includes logging a total number of beds in the particular hospital unit and available nursing slots to determine a capacity for the particular hospital unit. The method also includes analyzing data for patients scheduled to stay in the particular hospital unit data to predict stochastic arrivals in order to estimate a total inflow. A length of stay of a patient in the particular hospital unit is predicted using a survival analysis based on physician orders to estimate a total outflow. Additionally, the method includes executing an algorithm designed to use the capacity, total inflow, and total outflow to determine the demand for the particular hospital unit.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.