Figure 1.

Patient care is delivered through a network of functionally independent departments (e.g., emergency department (ED), outpatient units (OUs), intensive care unit, and inpatient wards (IWs)) within a hospital system. In general, acute patients arrive via the ED, while elective patients arrive via OUs. Subsequent phases of the patient care trajectory connect various capacity resources such as IWs, surgical procedures in operating theaters (OTs), and intensive care unit. Different patient care trajectories are connected through shared resources.