A meta study of discrete event modeling and simulation (DES) used by healthcare industries

Abstract

The fact that ER/ED comprises nearly 50% of the studies within the 622110 NAICS Sector Code indicates that that area still needs further research. Inpatient services, outpatient services, and OR appear to be critical as well. Outside of the 622110 NAICS Sector Code it would appear that several areas could benefit from further study. These include doctor's offices, pharmaceuticals, medical radiological (x-ray) labs, and public health programs. Although there are numerous DES software available, including software specific to the healthcare industry, it was found that Arena® and Promodel overwhelming comprised the software used. Based upon this study it would appear that DES graduate and undergraduate students do not have to be exposed to healthcare specific software in order to conduct projects in the healthcare industry. This paper provides only one area of study that could be applied in the teaching DES. Because healthcare is currently a predominate topic in society it would be a timely topic to discuss in a DES class. It would appear that students would need to understand basic DES concepts that apply to all simulations. A DES class could use healthcare as a primary area to teach the concepts of arrivals, flow, capacity, queuing times, costs, etc. Meta-studies of other WinterSim conference tracks could provide other topical areas for the development of case studies. It is hoped that this study will help those involved in using DES to identify areas of healthcare research interests and possible consulting activities. © American Society for Engineering Education, 2010.