{"title":"A bed allocation model for pandemic situation considering general demand: A case study of Iran.","authors":"Mohammadreza Korzebor, Nasim Nahavandi","doi":"10.1111/risa.14339","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Pandemics place a new type of demand from patients affected by the pandemic, imposing significant strain on hospital departments, particularly the intensive care unit. A crucial challenge during pandemics is the imbalance in addressing the needs of both pandemic patients and general patients. Often, the community's focus shifts toward the pandemic patients, causing an imbalance that can result in severe issues. Simultaneously considering both demands, pandemic-related and general healthcare needs, has been largely overlooked. In this article, we propose a bi-objective mathematical model for locating temporary hospitals and allocating patients to existing and temporary hospitals, considering both demand types during pandemics. Hospital departments, such as emergency beds, serve both demand types, but due to infection risks, accommodating a pandemic patient and a general patient in the same department is not feasible. The first objective function is to minimize the bed shortages considering both types of demands, whereas the second objective is cost minimization, which includes the fixed and variable costs of temporary facilities, the penalty cost of changing the allocation of existing facilities (between general and pandemic demand), the cost of adding expandable beds to existing facilities, and the service cost for different services and beds. To show the applicability of the model, a real case study has been conducted on the COVID-19 pandemic in the city of Qom, Iran. Comparing the model results with real data reveals that using the proposed model can increase demand coverage by 16%.</p>","PeriodicalId":21472,"journal":{"name":"Risk Analysis","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.0000,"publicationDate":"2024-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Risk Analysis","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1111/risa.14339","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2024/6/7 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"MATHEMATICS, INTERDISCIPLINARY APPLICATIONS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Pandemics place a new type of demand from patients affected by the pandemic, imposing significant strain on hospital departments, particularly the intensive care unit. A crucial challenge during pandemics is the imbalance in addressing the needs of both pandemic patients and general patients. Often, the community's focus shifts toward the pandemic patients, causing an imbalance that can result in severe issues. Simultaneously considering both demands, pandemic-related and general healthcare needs, has been largely overlooked. In this article, we propose a bi-objective mathematical model for locating temporary hospitals and allocating patients to existing and temporary hospitals, considering both demand types during pandemics. Hospital departments, such as emergency beds, serve both demand types, but due to infection risks, accommodating a pandemic patient and a general patient in the same department is not feasible. The first objective function is to minimize the bed shortages considering both types of demands, whereas the second objective is cost minimization, which includes the fixed and variable costs of temporary facilities, the penalty cost of changing the allocation of existing facilities (between general and pandemic demand), the cost of adding expandable beds to existing facilities, and the service cost for different services and beds. To show the applicability of the model, a real case study has been conducted on the COVID-19 pandemic in the city of Qom, Iran. Comparing the model results with real data reveals that using the proposed model can increase demand coverage by 16%.
期刊介绍:
Published on behalf of the Society for Risk Analysis, Risk Analysis is ranked among the top 10 journals in the ISI Journal Citation Reports under the social sciences, mathematical methods category, and provides a focal point for new developments in the field of risk analysis. This international peer-reviewed journal is committed to publishing critical empirical research and commentaries dealing with risk issues. The topics covered include:
• Human health and safety risks
• Microbial risks
• Engineering
• Mathematical modeling
• Risk characterization
• Risk communication
• Risk management and decision-making
• Risk perception, acceptability, and ethics
• Laws and regulatory policy
• Ecological risks.