It is recognized that the study of the disaster medical response (DMR) is a relatively new field. To date, there is no evidence-based literature that clearly defines the best medical response principles, concepts, structures and processes in a disaster setting. Much of what is known about the DMR results from descriptive studies and expert opinion. No experimental studies regarding the effects of DMR interventions on the health outcomes of disaster survivors have been carried out. Traditional analytic methods cannot fully capture the flow of disaster victims through a complex disaster medical response system (DMRS). Computer modelling and simulation enable to study and test operational assumptions in a virtual but controlled experimental environment. The SIMEDIS (Simulation for the assessment and optimization of medical disaster management) simulation model consists of 3 interacting components: the victim creation model, the victim monitoring model where the health state of each victim is monitored and adapted to the evolving clinical conditions of the victims, and the medical response model, where the victims interact with the environment and the resources at the disposal of the healthcare responders. Since the main aim of the DMR is to minimize as much as possible the mortality and morbidity of the survivors, we designed a victim-centred model in which the casualties pass through the different components and processes of a DMRS. The specificity of the SIMEDIS simulation model is the fact that the victim entities evolve in parallel through both the victim monitoring model and the medical response model. The interaction between both models is ensured through a time or medical intervention trigger. At each service point, a triage is performed together with a decision on the disposition of the victims regarding treatment and/or evacuation based on a priority code assigned to the victim and on the availability of resources at the service point. The aim of the case study is to implement the SIMEDIS model to the DMRS of an international airport and to test the medical response plan to an airplane crash simulation at the airport. In order to identify good response options, the model then was used to study the effect of a number of interventional factors on the performance of the DMRS. Our study reflects the potential of SIMEDIS to model complex systems, to test different aspects of DMR, and to be used as a tool in experimental research that might make a substantial contribution to provide the evidence base for the effectiveness and efficiency of disaster medical management.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s10916-016-0633-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

We propose a methodology to generate realistic victim profiles for medical disaster simulations based on victims from the VictimBase library. We apply these profiles in a medical disaster model where victim entities evolve in parallel through a medical response model and a victim pathway model. These models interact in correspondence with the time triggers and intervention triggers from VictimBase. We show how such a model can be used to assess the impact of asset availability and implemented victim prioritisation rule on the clinical condition of the victims.

Medical disaster management research aims at identifying methodologies and rules of best practice and evaluates performance and outcome indicators for medical disaster management. However, the conduct of experimental studies is either impossible or ethically inappropriate.We generate realistic victim profiles for medical disaster simulations based on medical expertise. These profiles are used in a medical disaster model where victim entities evolve in parallel through a medical response model and a victim pathway model. The medical response model focuses on the pre-hospital phase which includes triage procedures, evacuation processes and medical processes. Medical decisions such as whether to evacuate or to treat the current victim are based on the RPM (respiratory rate, pulse rate, motor response) parameters of the victim. We present results for a simulated major road accident and show how the level of resource can influence outcome indicators.