A discrete-event simulation model for assessing operating room efficiency of thoracic, gastrointestinal, and orthopedic surgeries.

Background: In hospital management, pinpointing steps that most enhance operating room (OR) throughput is challenging. While prior literature has utilized discrete event simulation (DES) to study specific strategies such as scheduling and resource allocation, our study examines an earlier planning phase, assessing all workflow stages to determine the most impactful steps for subsequent strategy development.

Methods: DES models real-world systems by simulating sequential events.