Towards an Agent-Based Simulation of Hospital Emergency Departments

Hospital emergency departments are complex systems, characterized by uncertainty and variability, often operating with limited resources and high demands. Simulations of these departments have proven to be efficient tools in improving their performance in certain circumstances, however the human aspect is often overlooked in the application of modeling and simulation to this field. This paper describes an ongoing project which is applying agent-based modeling techniques to the simulation of hospital emergency departments. The work performed so far, including system analysis and a preliminary model, are shown and the advantages of this technique explored.