Simulation in hospitals.

Abstract

Health care costs continue to rise because increased demand for services and limited budgets put pressure on resources, however efficiently they may be used. Proposes discrete event simulation as an effective tool in the search for more efficient health care systems. Looks at the application of a desktop computer simulation package to model part of a hospital subsystem. The simulation package shows how efficiency might be improved by moderating available resources and times taken to complete tasks. Maintains that the principles expounded here are applicable to many different aspects of health care management.