Distributed hybrid agent-based discrete event emergency medical services simulation

Abstract

This paper presents the development of a distributed hybrid agent-based (ABS) discrete event simulation (DES) model within the context of emergency medical services (EMS). The existing simulation models of EMS either are considered as a single model or several standalone models that represent different system elements in isolation. The aim of this research is to demonstrate the feasibility of using distributed simulation technology to implement hybrid EMS simulation. This would provide opportunities to study holistically integrated improvement scenarios for emergency medical services and crisis management systems. The case study is based on the London EMS and consists of an ambulance service ABS model and several accident and emergency departments DES models. Both the ABS and the DES models were developed in Repast Simphony toolkit using poRTIco RTI software to achieve communication between them. The results prove that we can use distributed simulation to successfully represent the real system.