• Int J Med Inform · Dec 2003

    Modeling an emergency medical services system using computer simulation.

    • Syi Su and Chung-Liang Shih.
    • Institute of Health Care Organization Administration, School of Public Health, National Taiwan University, No. 1, Sec. 1, Jen Ai Road, Rm. 1512, 100, ROC, Taipei, Taiwan. susyi@ha.mc.ntu.edu.tw
    • Int J Med Inform. 2003 Dec 1;72(1-3):57-72.

    Study ObjectivesIn the emergency medical services (EMS) system, appropriate prehospital care can substantially decrease casualty mortality and morbidity. This study designed a simulation model, evaluated the existing EMS system, and suggested improvements.MethodsThe study focused on 23 networked EMS hospitals affiliated with 36 emergency response units (subgroups) to perform two-tier rescues (advanced life support [ALS] in addition to basic life support [BLS] services) in Taipei, Taiwan. Using the existing EMS model as a base, this research constructed a computer simulation model and explored several model alternatives to achieve the study's objectives. The virtual models varied with staffing level, number of assigned emergency network hospitals, and various two-tier rescue probabilities.ResultsIncreasing the staffing to two teams for Hospital 22 lessened the call waiting probability (delay between rescue call and ambulance dispatch) by 50%, even if the dispatch rate of the two-tier rescue increased from the empirical 2% to a simulated 10 and 20%. Changing the two-tier rescue pattern so each EMS subgroup cooperated with two specific, preassigned network hospitals lowered the probability of patients having to wait for rescue dispatch to under 1%.ConclusionThe following alternatives provided the greatest combination of effectiveness, quality patient care, and cost-efficiency: (1) because of its unique location, increase Hospital 22's staffing level to two ALS teams. (2) Establish a specific rescue protocol for the two-tier system that preassigns two network hospitals to each of the 36 EMS subgroups along with a prearranged calling sequence. If implemented, this will improve EMS performance, streamline the system, reduce randomness, and enhance efficiency.

      Pubmed     Full text   Copy Citation     Plaintext  

      Add institutional full text...

    Notes

     
    Knowledge, pearl, summary or comment to share?
    300 characters remaining
    help        
    You can also include formatting, links, images and footnotes in your notes
    • Simple formatting can be added to notes, such as *italics*, _underline_ or **bold**.
    • Superscript can be denoted by <sup>text</sup> and subscript <sub>text</sub>.
    • Numbered or bulleted lists can be created using either numbered lines 1. 2. 3., hyphens - or asterisks *.
    • Links can be included with: [my link to pubmed](http://pubmed.com)
    • Images can be included with: ![alt text](https://bestmedicaljournal.com/study_graph.jpg "Image Title Text")
    • For footnotes use [^1](This is a footnote.) inline.
    • Or use an inline reference [^1] to refer to a longer footnote elseweher in the document [^1]: This is a long footnote..

    hide…