A Management Flight Simulator of an Intensive Care Unit

Abstract

Management Flight Simulators (MFS) supply a simulated environment in which managers can learn from experience in a controlled setting. Although its use is usual in other areas, no such software has been developed to learn about the complexity of the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) management. This paper describes an MFS of ICUs which includes main features that distinguish it from other simulators such as the evolution of patients' health status and the recreation of real discharge and admission processes. The mathematical model is a discrete event simulation model in which different types of patients arrive at the ICU (emergency and scheduled patients). The user manages the simulated ICU by deciding about their admission or diversion and which inpatients are discharged. The analysis of recorded data is used to detect controversial scenarios and to understand how physicians' decisions are made.

Hospital preparedness in epidemics by using simulation. The case of COVID-19

“…Different protocols for ICU triage during a pandemic have been suggested in [54][55][56]. Foreseeing the increasing need for beds is essential to avoid ethical dilemmas [15,57]. According to Utley et al [58], "the impact of triage is dependent on the level of demand and on the scale of achievable differences between included and excluded groups in terms of anticipated length of stay and critical care survival".…”