A Dynamic Model for Planning Patient Care in Hospitals

A simulation model is presented which investigates the requirements of patient care in planning new hospitals on the basis of statistical data of health care needs in a community and different administrative policies for providing services. The minimum requirements for future service demands for planning patient care in a hospital on the basis of health statistics in a community are generated by synthetic random observations according to certain probability distributions. The model permits the investigation of the influence of admission control on the manifest service demands as well as the effects of the latter on the utilization of patient care facilities over a period of time. The consequences of possible alternatives for meeting the demands may be determined through experimentation with various time-dependent demand patterns and various policy decisions in planning and management.