Investigating Coordination of Hospital Departments in Delivering Healthcare for Acute Coronary Syndrome Patients using Data-Driven Network Analysis

Healthcare systems are challenged to deliver high-quality and efficient care. Studying patient flow in a hospital is particularly fundamental as it demonstrates effectiveness and efficiency of a hospital. Since hospital is a collection of physically nearby services under one administration, its performance and outcome are shaped by the interaction of its discrete components. Coordination of processes at different levels of organizational structure of a hospital can be studied using network analysis. Hence, this article presents a data-driven static and temporal network of departments. Both networks are directed and weighted and constructed using seven years' (2010-2016) empirical data of 24902 Acute Coronary Syndrome (ACS) patients. The ties reflect an episode-based transfer of ACS patients from department to department in a hospital. The weight represents the number of patients transferred among departments. As a result, the underlying structure of a network of departments that deliver healthcare for ACS patients is described, the main departments and their role in the diagnosis and treatment process of ACS patients are identified, the role of departments over seven years is analyzed and communities of departments are discovered. The results of this study may help hospital administration to effectively organize and manage the coordination of departments based on their significance, strategic positioning and role in the diagnosis and treatment process which, in turn, nurtures value-based and precision healthcare.