HCCM - A Control World View For Health Care Discrete Event Simulation

Abstract

The classical world-views of discrete event simulation (DES) are event scheduling, activity scanning and process interaction. A fourth approach, the three-phase method, extends activity scanning and is often regarded as another world-view. These world-views provide the theoretical framework for applying DES in practice. However, in health care simulation, practitioners often face modeling challenges where the concepts and methodologies described by these world-views are not able to reflect either the dynamics or the entity flow of the system being modelled. This leads to individualized approaches and solutions that do not build on a unified and standardized theoretical basis. In this paper we present an extension to the activity scanning world-view based on the needs of the health care sector that uses hierarchical control structures as a more general, flexible and powerful tool to define health care DES models. To demonstrate the strength and potential of the approach two ongoing simulation studies are briefly outlined and the benefits of using the new world-view for these models is discussed.

A case study on the use of a conceptual modeling framework for construction simulation

“…15 Therefore, HCCM pays more attention to governing entity flows within a system through the use of control units, control behavior, control hierarchy, and different categorizations for activities and entities. HCCM was motivated by the healthcare sector, but it has been employed to model several systems such as port operations management, 15 hospital patient transport, 77 doors and windows construction logistics, 78 tunnel construction, 10 earthmoving logistics, 79,80 and Cytology lab task allocation. 81…”

“…15 Therefore, HCCM pays more attention to governing entity flows within a system through the use of control units, control behavior, control hierarchy, and different categorizations for activities and entities. HCCM was motivated by the healthcare sector, but it has been employed to model several systems such as port operations management, 15 hospital patient transport, 77 doors and windows construction logistics, 78 tunnel construction, 10 earthmoving logistics, 79,80 and Cytology lab task allocation. 81 Abdelmegid et al 10 proposed an extension of the HCCM framework to suit the nature of construction systems by including more collaborative modeling tasks and different forms that present construction activities in a way that is more aligned to standard industry practice.…”