A Simulation Game of Patient Transportation

Abstract

The handling of patients is a complex process. The training and education of patient transportation workers are meant to ensure efficiency and health outcomes. A simulation game, joined by personnel with working experience or prospective professionals in the healthcare system, is a lifelike medium for improving decision-makings in nonrational operation management. However, few examples are known in regard to synthesizing complex systems, such as clinical facilities, into healthcare simulation games. In order to fill this gap, this work proposes the adopt theory and reports the development of a simulation game that reconciles patient handling with the support of different types of simulation techniques. The simulation game has a physical entity simulator as its back end and a panel of command and control for each player as its front end. The physical entity simulator is based on the interactions of mobile agents. Agent-based modeling targets the correct level of representation of the operative environment. The simulation game is tested with managers who have more than 10 years of working experience with patient flow management in pediatric care. Reflections from players indicate that modeling and abstraction using an agent model are an efficient synthesis of complex systems. The theory, methods, and results of this study are expected to contribute to the development of simulation games that can be applied in health service provision, in general, and in patient transportation, in particular.