Presentation of a Model for the Distribution of Emergency First Aid During Pre-hospital Triage with a Practical Example

Abstract

Background: The proper triage of patients, supply chain management, and proper location, delivery, and distribution of health facilities and services in times of crises and disasters have always been challenging issues playing an important role in reducing damages and increasing the level of patient care during emergencies. Objectives: This study was conducted to design a model for allocating emergency first aid in pre-hospital triage. Methods: The model presented in this study is a two-level mathematical model using nonlinear programming to introduce a new location for the establishment and activation of distribution centers in the supply chain and distribution of pre-hospital health-oriented services during crises. This proposed hybrid model seeks to strike a balance between the concepts of efficiency, cost, and dispersion. By expanding the insurance coverage of health services, the number of services provided in the times of crises and triage of injured patients also increases, leading to the delivery of more profits and improvement in the effectiveness of medical services in the shortest possible time. Results: This model helps to select suitable candidate locations for the triage of patients and increases its performance. Therefore, the appropriateness of each place is measured according to the criteria set for them. This model considers different parameters for selecting places for the distribution and allocation of emergency services, including the efficiency of the centers selected for the triage of patients, the cost of the inventory system for providing primary services, the dispersion of selected triage centers, demands for sick and injured patients, the possibility of constructing additional distribution centers (e.g., field hospitals), and strategies to avoid the imposition of additional costs. Conclusions: This study showed that by maximizing the dispersion of desirable facilities, such as distribution centers, the demand coverage of different regions is appropriately improved. In other words, the health service distributor, as one of the important parts of the supply chain, helps service providers better meet the needs of injured patients during emergencies.