Sensitivity analysis of an ICU simulation model

The modeling and simulation of inpatient healthcare systems comprising of multiple interconnected units of monitored care is a challenging task given the nature of clinical practices and procedures that regulate patient flow. Therefore, any related study on the properties of patient flow should (i) explicitly consider the modeling of patient movement rules in face of congestion, and (ii) examine the sensitivity of simulation output, expressed by patient delays and diversions, over different patient movement modeling approaches. In this work, we use a high fidelity simulation model of a tertiary facility that can incorporate complex patient movement rules to investigate the challenges inherent in its employment for resource allocation tasks.