Title: Modelling the complexity of emergency department operations using hybrid simulation

Authors: Norazura Ahmad; Noraida Abdul Ghani; Anton Abdulbasah Kamil; Razman Mat Tahar

Addresses: School of Quantitative Sciences, College of Arts and Sciences, Universiti Utara Malaysia, 06010 Sintok, Kedah, Malaysia ' School of Quantitative Sciences, College of Arts and Sciences, Universiti Utara Malaysia, 06010 Sintok, Kedah, Malaysia ' School of Quantitative Sciences, College of Arts and Sciences, Universiti Utara Malaysia, 06010 Sintok, Kedah, Malaysia ' School of Quantitative Sciences, College of Arts and Sciences, Universiti Utara Malaysia, 06010 Sintok, Kedah, Malaysia

Abstract: As a system, the emergency department reveals detailed and dynamic complexity of its interaction between inter-departmental units and intra-departmental elements. Discrete-event simulation (DES) has been recognised for its ability to comprehend operational problems with detailed complexity. Whilst using DES to model the complexities of the integrated emergency department system, we also use system dynamics (SD) to capture the interdependency relationships between the emergency department and other subunits in a hospital. This paper presents the integration of DES and SD modelling approach, hereby named as hybrid simulation, to better understand emergency department operations from a whole system perspective.

Keywords: emergency departments; hybrid simulation; discrete-event simulation; system dynamics; complexity modelling; operational complexity; hospitals; healthcare management.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSPM.2015.072537

International Journal of Simulation and Process Modelling, 2015 Vol.10 No.4, pp.360 - 371

Accepted: 24 Jun 2015
Published online: 16 Oct 2015 *

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