The increasing waiting times to access healthcare services are a major concern for pa-tients in hospitals. Due to the unpredictability of health issues, hospitals and clinical ser-vices are provided to patients even without prescheduled medical appointments. Unex-pected and random patient arrivals can result in high waiting times. Waiting occurs most-ly because of insufficient resources available compared to demanding service delivery requirements at a given time. Thus, appropriate management of resource scheduling over time can help reduce patient wait times. So far, simulation has mostly been used as a support for strategic decision making in healthcare environments. We are proposing a complementary approach, namely, real-time simulation, to support operational decision making rather than long-term strategic decision making. Real-time simulation is a technique used to get a timely prediction of the system status in a near future (e.g., a few hours). Hospitals can benefit from the capa-bilities of real-time simulations by predicting upcoming bottleneck occurrences in patient care processes and make effective decisions in the present time to avoid undesirable out-comes in the near future. This research presents real-time simulation capabilities for short-term operational decision making of patient care processes in hospitals and the possible ways to run alter-native scenarios and evaluate their results to come up with the most effective solution considering various factors. This thesis also provides tool support based on a leading simulation environment, namely Arena. The tool-supported methodology is evaluated through a realistic cardiac care process in an Ontario community hospital, with encourag-ing results.

SAMMANFATTNING     Bakgrund: Patienter på kirurgavdelningar är komplexa såtillvida att de förutom den kirurgiska åkomman kan ha olika medicinska diagnoser vilket ofta komplicerar både vården, behandlingen samt medför svårigheter i att upptäcka ett försämrat tillstånd. För att kunna bedöma patientens tillstånd och få en uppfattning om hur denne mår måste objektiva och lätt mätbara parametrar användas. Modified Early Warning Score (MEWS) är ett poängsystem som mäter några av patientens vitala funktioner och baseras på sex mätbara/bedömningsbara  funktioner: andningsfrekvens, puls, systoliskt blodtryck, kroppstemperatur, vakenhet och urinmängd. Poängsumman varierar mellan 0 och 17, där 0 är normalt.   Syfte: Att kartlägga fördelningen av poäng enligt MEWS hos akuta patienter med kirurgiska åkommor på två kirurgavdelningar på ett universitetssjukhus i Sverige samt undersöka vilka åtgärder som vidtagits vid respektive poäng enligt MEWS.   Metod: Retrospektiv journalgranskningsstudie  där dokumentation av mätningar med MEWS för 94 patienter granskades.   Resultat: Totalt återfanns 229 poäng enligt MEWS varav 76 var från mätningar vid ankomst till avdelning och resterande  153 från mätningar under fortsatt vårdtid. Antalet MEWS-mätningar per patient varierade mellan  1 och 31. Nitton åtgärder som ingår i sjuksköterskans profession kopplade till en poäng enligt MEWS återfanns. De mest förekommande åtgärderna var att ge smärtstillande läkemedel på generell ordination samt att utföra upprepade kontroller av patientens vitala funktioner. Tjugotvå medicinska åtgärder kopplade till en poäng enligt MEWS återfanns. De mest  förekommande medicinska åtgärderna var att ordinera provtagning eller odling samt att ordinera  extra dropp. Inte i något fall ledde en poäng enligt MEWS till att någon patient flyttade till en högre vårdnivå.   Slutsats: Det fanns mätningar enligt MEWS för 85 % av patienterna där medianpoängen var 1 av maximala 17. Medianpoängen när åtgärd som ingår i sjuksköterskans profession eller medicinska åtgärder vidtogs var 4. De vanligaste åtgärderna var att ge smärtstillande läkemedel på generell ordination, göra upprepade kontroller, ordinera provtagning,  odling eller extra dropp. / ABSTRACT     Background: Patients with surgical conditions are complex, since many patients have various medical diagnoses besides their surgical condition. Apart from complicating care and treatment, this makes it difficult to detect deterioration in the patient's condition. In order to assess the patient's condition, objective and easily measurable parameters are preferably used. A scoring system, the Modified Ear­ ly Waming Score, MEWS, was developed in the early 1990s and based on some ofthe patient's vital functions: respiratory rate, heart rate, systolic blood pressure, body temperature, alertness/awareness and urine output. The result varies between 0 and 17, with 0 demonstrating normal vital functions.   Objective: To describe the distribution of MEWS scores for emergency patients with surgical condi­ tions in two surgical wards at a university hospital in Sweden, and to examine what actions had been taken based on the MEWS scores.   Methods: A retrospective review was performed on MEWS measurements and medical records for 94 patients.   Results: In total, 229 MEWS measurements had been performed, ofwhich 76 were taken on arrival at the ward, and the remaining 153 <luring the continued hospitalization. The number ofMEWS measurements per patient ranged from 1 to 31. Nineteen actions, based on MEWS scores, related the nursing professions were found, with the administration of painkillers and repeated checks ofthe pa­ tient's vital functions, being the two most common. Twenty-two medical procedures, based on MEWS scores, were identified, where sampling for bacterial cultures or prescribing extra intravenous fluid were the most frequent. No patient was transferred toa higher level of care because of their MEWS score.   Conclusion: MEWS measurements were performed in 85% of the patients and the median result was 1 of maximum 17. Different actions, related the nursing or medical profession, were taken at a me­ dian result of 4. No patient was transferred toa higher level of care. The most common actions were administration of painkillers, repeated checks ofthe patient's vital functions, sampling for bacterial cultures and prescribing extra intravenous fluid