The domain of healthcare is characterized by a high degree of complexity and a diversity of perspectives, and modelers are often confronted with the challenge of formulating a simulation model that captures this complexity in a systematic and manageable manner. Most often, the diverse perspectives of healthcare systems are studied in isolation and using specific formalisms. As it turns out, answering questions concerning behavioral properties of the overall system becomes difficult and therefore not sufficient for an efficient design and analysis of the system under study. In this article, we propose a framework for multi-paradigm modeling and holistic simulation of healthcare systems. We present a modeling methodology with a plethora of formalisms to allow the modeler to choose an appropriate formalism at a given level of abstraction while model transformation relates the different formalisms. Furthermore, we develop an integrative approach for the interactions between models of different perspectives through dynamic update of model output-toparameter integration during concurrent simulations. Such an approach provides multiple levels of explanation for the same system, while offering, at the same time, an integrated view of the whole. The framework has successfully been applied to study part of the Nigerian healthcare system.
This paper presents a multi-perspective approach to Modeling and Simulation (M&S) of Healthcare Systems (HS) such that different perspectives are defined and integrated together. The interactions between the isolated perspectives are done through dynamic update of models output-to-parameter integration during concurrent simulations. Most often, simulation-based studies of HS in the literature focus on specific problem like allocation of resources, disease propagation, and population dynamics that are studied with constant parameters from their respective experimental frames throughout the simulation. The proposed idea provides a closer representation of the real situation and helps to capture the interactions between seemingly independent concerns - and the effects of such interactions - in simulation results. The article provides a DEVS (Discrete Event System Specification)-based formalization of the loose integration of the different perspectives, an Object-Oriented framework for its realization and a case study as illustration and proof of concept.
This article aims at developing a new ontology for healthcare systems (HS) simulation. The ontology includes various classes that represent major components of HS simulation and their relationships as an integrated whole. It is formally expressed using system entity structure language with links to basic models developed in various formalisms and stored in a model base repository. Entities are mapped into web ontology language (OWL) classes and can be visualized in Protégée and queried with SPARQL. Classes are built based on agreed-upon concepts in HS simulation domain and serve to document and formalize knowledge while providing notable benefits such as common representation of healthcare models from different simulation platforms, model reuse, querying simulation models, and browsing. The paper also presents an illustrative case study to showcase the use of the ontology while capturing successfully within its scope an outbreak of cholera disease and its mitigation plan.
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