Emergency System Optimization with Minimal Network Modifications

Abstract

Research reported in this paper was motivated by insufficient and geographically poorly distributed network of emergency medical service stations in Slovakia. The main idea of this study aims at increasing the percentage of population covered by provided service within 15 minutes. In some cases, it is natural and logical to assume that moving several stations a few kilometers or performing other changes in the network could significantly improve the service accessibility for citizens. In this paper, we concentrate on emergency medical system optimization, in which only minimal changes are acceptable. Theoretical explanation of quantitative methods is followed by a computational study with real data from Slovakia.