Reducing Emergency Medical Service response time via the reallocation of ambulance bases

• Published in: Health care management science Vol. 19; no. 1; pp. 31 - 42
• Main Authors: Nogueira, L. C., Pinto, L. R., Silva, P. M. S.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01-03-2016; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Ambulance services; Ambulances - organization & administration; Brazil; Business and Management; Cities; Computer Simulation; Econometrics; Efficiency, Organizational; Emergency medical care; Emergency Medical Services - organization & administration; Emergency services; Health Administration; Health care industry; Health Informatics; Hospitals; Humans; Hypotheses; Location analysis; Management; Mathematical models; Models, Theoretical; Operations research; Operations Research/Decision Theory; Optimization; Response time; Simulation; Statistical analysis; Time Factors; Brazil; Facility location; 90B90; Mathematical modeling; Discrete event simulation; Optimization
• ISSN: 1386-9620; 1572-9389
• DOI: 10.1007/s10729-014-9280-4

The demand for highly efficient and effective services and consumer goods is an essential prerequisite for modern organizations. In healthcare, efficiency and effectiveness mean reducing disabilities and maintaining human life. One challenge is guaranteeing rapid Emergency Medical Service (EMS) response. This study analyzes the EMS of Belo Horizonte, Brazil, using two modeling techniques: optimization and simulation. The optimization model locates ambulance bases and allocates ambulances to those bases. A simulation of this proposed configuration is run to analyze the dynamic behavior of the system. The main assumption is that optimizing the ambulance base locations can improve the system response time. Feasible solutions were found and the current system may be improved while considering economic and operational changes.