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Computer Modeling of Rural Emergency Medical Services Delivery Systems

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 June 2012

Larry J. Shuman
Affiliation:
From the Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh PA 15261;University of Central Florida, Orlando FL, USA.
Jose Sepulveda
Affiliation:
From the Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh PA 15261;University of Central Florida, Orlando FL, USA.
Harvey Wolfe
Affiliation:
From the Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh PA 15261;University of Central Florida, Orlando FL, USA.
Gerald Esposito
Affiliation:
From the Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh PA 15261;University of Central Florida, Orlando FL, USA.

Extract

RURALSIM is a sophisticated computer simulation model designed as an aid in planning and evaluating rural emergency medical services (EMS) systems. Written in SIMULA, it has been successfully used in Indiana County, Pennsylvania, to study the potential effects of changes in existing vehicle placement and relocation strategies, vehicle dispatching policies and alternative forms of prehospital care, including the ability of the system to respond to a disaster.

RURALSIM is a stochastic, dynamic, event-oriented computer model. Stochastic means that all random events, such as the occurrence of an incident, are generated according to appropriate probability distributions obtained from empirical data. Dynamic means that events occur over time and that the model selects the appropriate incident rates and response strategies for the particular time and day simulated.

Type
Part I: Research-Education-Organization
Copyright
Copyright © World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine 1985

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References

1. McAllister, P, Shuman, L, Wolfe, H et al. Algorithms for evaluation of pre-hospital care. Health Operations Research Group, School of Engineering, University of Pittsburgh, PA, 1978.Google Scholar
2. Shuman, L, Wolfe, H, Ames, J et al. RURALSIM: A simulation model for designing and evaluating rural EMS systems. Second International Conference on System Science in Health Care, Montreal, Canada. (In press), 1980.Google Scholar