Issue: 2016/Vol.26/No.1, Pages 55-72
REVIEW OF MODELLING APPROACHES FOR HEALTHCARE SIMULATION
Bożena Mielczarek
Cite as: B. Mielczarek. Review of modelling approaches for healthcare simulation. Operations Research and Decisions 2016: 26(1), 55-72. DOI 10.5277/ord160104
Abstract
The goal of this paper is to present a summary of various simulation methods applied to health services and to discuss several internal and external determinants for selecting a particular simulation method to study a given managerial problem within the healthcare system. The analysis presented is based on a literature survey and considers four primary simulation techniques: Monte Carlo, discrete-event simulation, agent-based simulation and system dynamics. A range of internal and external factors are reviewed and characterised to determine the most suitable simulation technique for addressing a particular healthcare decision problem.
Keywords: simulation, healthcare, decision support, management
Received: 26 August 2015 Accepted: 25 January 2016