The Resilience of Emergency Departments: Definition and Characterization

Emergency departments (EDs) provide immediate and essential medical care for patients but often face the influx of patients generated by events such as seasonal flows or exceptional events like health threats related to epidemics. The paper focuses on the relevance of using the concept of resilience to receive patients for medical and/or surgical treatments regardless of the extent of the patient flow, to successfully manage medical resources to absorb it and reduce strain situations. The definition of resilience and its characterization are provided.