Systematic Review of Discrete Event Simulation in Healthcare and Statistics Distributions
Source abstract
Abstract
The healthcare sector, as a complex industrial system, faces significant challenges in delivering quality care amid resource constraints, driving the increased adoption of discrete event simulation (DES) as a tool for enhancing operational efficiency. While DES has proven valuable in healthcare operations, there is limited understanding of the statistical distributions employed in its implementation and its technological evolution. This study conducts an innovative review examining the diffusion of DES in health services, analyzing both the statistical distributions used in medical services simulation and the advancement of DES technologies. Through a comprehensive analysis of 616 publications from 2010 to 2022, we investigated DES utilization patterns and technological evolution and conducted a comparative analysis between pre- and post-COVID-19 pandemic periods, evaluating publication trends by country. The results reveal a significant increase in DES publications, an expansion of journals publishing DES-related articles, and notable technological advancements in simulation capabilities, particularly following the COVID-19 pandemic. These findings demonstrate the growing relevance of DES in healthcare research and its crucial role in process automation and decision-making within the industrial healthcare environment.
Source: crossref · Quality: baseline
Research context
OpenAlex topics: Healthcare Operations and Scheduling Optimization · Health Systems, Economic Evaluations, Quality of Life · Electronic Health Records Systems
SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.
Affiliations
Hospital Universitario Río Hortega, 47012 Valladolid, Spain
Organización de Empresas y CIM, Escuela de Ingenierías Industriales, Universidad de Valladolid, 47011 Valladolid, Spain
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