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Optimizing Emergency Medical Service Structures Using a Rule-Based Discrete Event Simulation—A Practitioner’s Point of View

Many studies in research deal with optimizing emergency medical services (EMS) on both the operational and the strategic level. It is the purpose of this method-oriented article to explain the major features of “rule-based discrete event simulation” (rule-based DES), which we developed independently...

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Autores principales: Strauss, Christoph, Bildstein, Günter, Efe, Jana, Flacher, Theo, Hofmann, Karen, Huggler, Markus, Stämpfli, Adrian, Schmid, Michael, Schmid, Esther, Gehring, Christian, Häske, David, Prückner, Stephan, Stock, Jan Philipp, Trentzsch, Heiko
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7967347/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33808033
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18052649
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author Strauss, Christoph
Bildstein, Günter
Efe, Jana
Flacher, Theo
Hofmann, Karen
Huggler, Markus
Stämpfli, Adrian
Schmid, Michael
Schmid, Esther
Gehring, Christian
Häske, David
Prückner, Stephan
Stock, Jan Philipp
Trentzsch, Heiko
author_facet Strauss, Christoph
Bildstein, Günter
Efe, Jana
Flacher, Theo
Hofmann, Karen
Huggler, Markus
Stämpfli, Adrian
Schmid, Michael
Schmid, Esther
Gehring, Christian
Häske, David
Prückner, Stephan
Stock, Jan Philipp
Trentzsch, Heiko
author_sort Strauss, Christoph
collection PubMed
description Many studies in research deal with optimizing emergency medical services (EMS) on both the operational and the strategic level. It is the purpose of this method-oriented article to explain the major features of “rule-based discrete event simulation” (rule-based DES), which we developed independently in Germany and Switzerland. Our rule-based DES addresses questions concerning the location and relocation of ambulances, dispatching and routing policies, and EMS interplay with other players in prehospital care. We highlight three typical use cases from a practitioner’s perspective and go into different countries’ peculiarities. We show how research results are applied to EMS and healthcare organizations to simulate and optimize specific regions in Germany and Switzerland with their strong federal structures. The rule-based DES serves as basis for decision support to improve regional emergency services’ efficiency without increasing cost. Finally, all simulation-based methods suggest normative solutions and optimize EMS’ performance within given healthcare system structures. We argue that interactions between EMS, emergency departments, and public healthcare agencies are crucial to further improving effectiveness, efficiency, and quality.
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spelling pubmed-79673472021-03-18 Optimizing Emergency Medical Service Structures Using a Rule-Based Discrete Event Simulation—A Practitioner’s Point of View Strauss, Christoph Bildstein, Günter Efe, Jana Flacher, Theo Hofmann, Karen Huggler, Markus Stämpfli, Adrian Schmid, Michael Schmid, Esther Gehring, Christian Häske, David Prückner, Stephan Stock, Jan Philipp Trentzsch, Heiko Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Many studies in research deal with optimizing emergency medical services (EMS) on both the operational and the strategic level. It is the purpose of this method-oriented article to explain the major features of “rule-based discrete event simulation” (rule-based DES), which we developed independently in Germany and Switzerland. Our rule-based DES addresses questions concerning the location and relocation of ambulances, dispatching and routing policies, and EMS interplay with other players in prehospital care. We highlight three typical use cases from a practitioner’s perspective and go into different countries’ peculiarities. We show how research results are applied to EMS and healthcare organizations to simulate and optimize specific regions in Germany and Switzerland with their strong federal structures. The rule-based DES serves as basis for decision support to improve regional emergency services’ efficiency without increasing cost. Finally, all simulation-based methods suggest normative solutions and optimize EMS’ performance within given healthcare system structures. We argue that interactions between EMS, emergency departments, and public healthcare agencies are crucial to further improving effectiveness, efficiency, and quality. MDPI 2021-03-05 /pmc/articles/PMC7967347/ /pubmed/33808033 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18052649 Text en © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Strauss, Christoph
Bildstein, Günter
Efe, Jana
Flacher, Theo
Hofmann, Karen
Huggler, Markus
Stämpfli, Adrian
Schmid, Michael
Schmid, Esther
Gehring, Christian
Häske, David
Prückner, Stephan
Stock, Jan Philipp
Trentzsch, Heiko
Optimizing Emergency Medical Service Structures Using a Rule-Based Discrete Event Simulation—A Practitioner’s Point of View
title Optimizing Emergency Medical Service Structures Using a Rule-Based Discrete Event Simulation—A Practitioner’s Point of View
title_full Optimizing Emergency Medical Service Structures Using a Rule-Based Discrete Event Simulation—A Practitioner’s Point of View
title_fullStr Optimizing Emergency Medical Service Structures Using a Rule-Based Discrete Event Simulation—A Practitioner’s Point of View
title_full_unstemmed Optimizing Emergency Medical Service Structures Using a Rule-Based Discrete Event Simulation—A Practitioner’s Point of View
title_short Optimizing Emergency Medical Service Structures Using a Rule-Based Discrete Event Simulation—A Practitioner’s Point of View
title_sort optimizing emergency medical service structures using a rule-based discrete event simulation—a practitioner’s point of view
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7967347/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33808033
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18052649
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