Integral resource capacity planning for inpatient care services based on bed census predictions by hour

The design and operations of inpatient care facilities are typically largely historically shaped. A better match with the changing environment is often possible, and even inevitable due to the pressure on hospital budgets. Effectively organizing inpatient care requires simultaneous consideration of several interrelated planning issues. Also, coordination with upstream departments like the operating theatre and the emergency department is much-needed. We present a generic analytical approach to predict bed census on nursing wards by hour, as a function of the Master Surgical Schedule and arrival patterns of emergency patients. Along these predictions, insight is gained on the impact of strategic (ie, case mix, care unit size, care unit partitioning), tactical (ie, allocation of operating room time, misplacement rules), and operational decisions (ie, time of admission/discharge). The method is used in the Academic Medical Center Amsterdam as a decision-support tool in a complete redesign of the inpatient care operations.     

Effects of Adsorbed Polyaniline on Redox Processes on As(2)O(3) Surfaces

Polyaniline deposited on As(2)O(3) surface resulted in a new material, which was characterized by infrared spectoscopy, thermogravimetry, differential scanning calorimetry, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and cyclic voltammetry. The mass percentage of polymer deposited on oxide surface is approximately 13%. The scanning electron microscopy images as well as the X-ray diffraction patterns provided conclusive evidence that the oxide surface is coated by the polymer. The cyclic voltammograms of the polyaniline adsorbed on As(2)O(3) surface showed that the adsorbate exerts remarkable effects on redox processes on this oxide. The pure oxide exhibited two oxidation/reduction peaks at 0.25/-0.06 and 0.47/-0.25 V attributed tentatively to the processes As(2)O(3)(s)+6H(+)+6e(-)=2As(s)+3H(2)O and As(s)+3H(+)+3e(-)=AsH(3)(g), respectively. The polyaniline-coated sample exhibited a better-defined voltammogram in which the first oxidation peak of the oxide had its intensity increased about four times. Copyright 2000 Academic Press.