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Background and Aim: Throughput improvement is a process that simultaneously increases the volume of services provided to patients, while decreasing the operating costs. The aim of the present study was to extract and prioritize the factors affecting throughput in an emergency department for heart disease patients.
Materials and Methods: This is a descriptive case study conducted through: interviews with experts, and the design of a questionnaire based on the emergency management criteria specified by the Ministry of Health and Medical Education (MOHME), and the completion of the questionnaire by academic experts in a teaching hospital in Tehran. 
Six indicators and 26 sub-indicators were extracted and the data was analyzed using multi- criteria decision analysis methods including ANP and DEMATEL.
Results: Among the 26 sub-indicators, six sub-indicators were identified as the top priority ones with a 72 percent impact on throughput. And out of the six top indicators, cardiac emergency clinical guidelines were identified as the most important in maximizing throughput for patients with chest pain in the emergency department under study. 
Conclusion: This study identified the priorities in enhancing throughput in an emergency cardiac unit. For the first time in Iran the study used a hybrid 
ANP-DEMATEL method. This study can provide insights for health system planners and policy-makers on the enhancement of throughput in care delivery 
organizations, especially teaching hospitals. 

Background and Aim: Hospitals should be able to satisfy their clients’ needs in less time and with best quality possible. Length of Stay (LOS) in hospitals is considered as a key performance indicator, especially in emergency departments. In this study, the analysis of LOS in emergency departments was performed so that some of the factors affecting patients’ length of stay could be found. 
Materials and Methods: This descriptive-analytical and cross-sectional study was performed in the emergency departments of two teaching hospitals of Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS). Seventy-two patient samples were included. The patients’ length of stay in emergency ward was measured from the entrance time until the time they left the emergency department. Data on both descriptive (mean and standard deviation) and analytical statistics (one-way ANOVA, independent sample t-test and linear regression) were analyzed with SPSS software.
Results: Patients’ average LOS in emergency departments was estimated at around 3 hours and 13 minutes (SD=1.52). Such variables as patients’ marital status, days of the week (holidays or regular days) and admission time (day or night) were determined as the factors affecting LOS. 
Conclusion: The time spent to give services in hospital emergency rooms is at an appropriate level and items such as marital status, holidays of a week, and time of the day can be referred to as factors affecting patients’ length of stay. With regard to these findings, health managers can rely on the results for the effective planning and management of hospital emergency departments.