Hospitals Strategize Surge Capacity Allocation Using System Dynamics
A system dynamics model was developed to help hospitals assess their ability to handle surges of demand during various types of disasters. The model represents all major flows of patients through a hospital and indicates how specific responses to a surge may ameliorate bottlenecks and their potentially harmful effects on patients.
 The model was calibrated to represent a specific hospital in West Virginia and was tested under three quite different surge scenarios: a bus crash, a chemical plant leak, and a SARS outbreak.
Under the difficult conditions of the SARS scenario, avoidable deaths of patients awaiting emergency care could be effectively reduced by adding reserve nursing staff not in the emergency department, as might be expected, but in the overloaded inpatient wards.
 The model can help hospital planners better anticipate how patient flows may be affected by disasters, and identify best practices for maximizing the hospital’s surge capacity under such conditions.
Client | Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), US Department of Health and Human Services |
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Authors/Consultants | Manley W, Homer J, Hoard M, Roy S, Furbee P, et al. |
Publications
Manley W, Homer J, Hoard M, Roy S, Furbee P, Summers D, Blake R, Kimble M. 2005. A Dynamic Model to Support Surge Capacity Planning in a Rural Hospital. ISDC proceedings 2005, Boston |
Hoard M, Homer J, Manley W, Furbee P, Haque A, Helmkamp J.  Systems Modeling in Support of Evidence-Based Disaster Planning for Rural Areas.  Intl. J of Hygiene and Environmental Health, 208: 117-125, 2005. |
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Solving Bottlenecks in Dairy Production Facilities with System Dynamics
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The World Bank Uses System Dynamics to Identify Root Causes of Poverty EXECUTIVE Summary Madagascar has one of the highest poverty rates in the world. In 2022, an astonishingly three out of every four people in Madagascar lived below the poverty line. Poverty has...
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Society Governance Updates Welcome, Allyson! New President Allyson Beall King joined the Policy Council as our 2024 President. Her primary role is as director of the Washington State University School of the Environment, which focuses on regional ecologies and our...
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