Managing urgent care in hospitals

One of the challenges of hospitals is to take into account the many uncertainties that arise during the delivery of care. This is especially prevalent when providing care for non-elective patients who require treatment with some urgency. As urgency increases, the stakes involved increase for both patients and healthcare providers. Non-elective care is prevalent throughout hospitals. The question then is how to efficiently organize healthcare processes while remaining able to properly adapt to the specific needs and characteristics of non-elective patient demand. In this thesis we address a number of challenges related to the provision of care for non-elective patients. The problems studied in this dissertation originate from hospitals in the Netherlands, and address planning problems encountered at various hospital departments where non-elective patients are treated.