An Optimization Model for Emergency Vehicle Location and Relocation with Consideration of Unavailability Time

Abstract

The main purpose of emergency medical services is providing fast medical care, as well as transporting patients to the hospital, in the shortest possible time. Healthcare managers try to improve healthcare systemsthrough reducing the response to demand time. In this paper, we seek to propose an optimization model in order to cover as much demand as possible in the shortest possible time using the available ambulance fleet. To do so, considering the response and service time, amount of demand during the time periods, limitation in the number of available emergency vehicles and the capacity of ambulance stations, we have proposed a mixed integer linear programming optimization model, aiming to minimize the total response time. In this paper we take into account fleet relocation and unavailability time, the time interval in which the vehicle is on its way or doing a service at a demand point. Then, a sensitivity analysis is conducted on the model by manipulating the parameters, so as to observe the effects on the outputs. In order to evaluate the model, several arti cial test problems were generated and solved. The results depict the capability of the proposed model in dealing with emergency cases.