Real-time Simulations to Support Operational Decision Making in Healthcare

摘要

Long wait times lead to many important issues in the Canadian healthcare system. Emerging technologies now enable real-time measurement of wait times, leading to new opportunities for operational decision making in healthcare. This paper investigates a real-time simulation approach that exploits this information, combined with patient care process models, in order to support short-term predictions targeting the allocation of resources having an impact on wait times. A special style of modeling is used to enable realtime simulations with the Arena tool. The approach's feasibility is assessed on a realistic clinical process for cardiac patients of an Ontario hospital, with encouraging results.