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Introducing agent-based modeling and simulation

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Agent-Based Modeling and Simulation

Part of the book series: The OR Essentials series ((ORESS))

Abstract

The manager of an Accident and Emergency(A&E) service(or Emergency Room) has a problem. The waiting room of her Unit is always full of patients waiting to see her clinical staff. Patients arrive, are checked in by a receptionist and then wait until they are seen by a nurse. If an arriving patient is in obvious distress then the patient is seen as soon as a nurse is available. The nurse records their medical details, discusses them with a doctor and then proceeds with a range of possible actions to treat the patient or to pass the patient on to another department. How can the manager understand how to reduce the number of patients waiting to see the nurse? Should she hire more nurses? Are doctors in short supply?Are nurses waiting for information from other departments? What about alternative arrival arrangements—should the reception team have clinical skills to make an earlier assessment of patients’ needs? Modeling & simulation (M&S) makes it possible for the A&E manager to create a verifiable and valid computer model of her system and to simulate it under different experimental conditions to understand what is causing the lengthy waiting times and the possible impact of different strategies to alleviate them.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Brunel University, UK

    Simon J. E. Taylor

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  1. Simon J. E. Taylor
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Brunel University, UK

    Simon J. E. Taylor

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© 2014 Simon JE Taylor

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Taylor, S.J.E. (2014). Introducing agent-based modeling and simulation. In: Taylor, S.J.E. (eds) Agent-Based Modeling and Simulation. The OR Essentials series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137453648_1

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