A Review of Hybrid Simulation in Healthcare

Abstract

Hybrid Simulation (HS) has been applied to healthcare systems, but there is still limited literature and an opportunity to develop research. This review explores applications of HS in healthcare, to outline research gaps and foster new research in HS to solve complex real healthcare problems. The twelve application papers found through a systematic literature search covered nearly all hybrid combinations. Discrete Event (DES) and System Dynamics (SD) were found to be the most popular combination, and AnyLogic, the most used HS tool. We found that none of the papers we reviewed used the SD-ABS approach, which raises questions about the need and challenges associated with certain combinations. HS in healthcare applications, for the most part, are published in conference proceedings. We discuss opportunities for research and, in particular, the potential for HS application in problems related to communicable disease and healthcare services planning.