Exploration with Process Mining on How Temperature Change Affects Hospital Emergency Departments.

The way patients are treated in Hospital Emergency Departments changes during the year, depending on many factors. One key component is weather temperature. Some seasonal maladies are tightly related to temperature, such as flu in cold weather or sunburn in hot weather. In this study, data from a hospital in Valencia was used to explore how harsh weather changes affect the emergency department, obtaining information about probable impacts of global warming effects in healthcare systems. Process mining techniques helped in the discovery of changes in the Emergency Departments. Some illnesses, such as heat stroke, are more prevalent during heatwaves, but more interestingly, the time to attend patients is also higher. Rapid changes in temperature are also analyzed through Process Mining techniques.