A Simulation Model For Analyzing the Night-Time Emergency Health Care System in Japan

Abstract

The current Japanese night-time emergency health care system can no longer meet patient demand due to the change in the patient’s consultation behavior and the doc-tor's uneven distribution. We propose a technique for modeling the whole processes of night-time emergency health care, the patient’s consultation behavior process, the patient transportation process, and the negotiation process between a medical institute and an ambulance in order to simulate the current situation of night-time emergency health care in Japan. To construct this model, we use an agent-based modeling(ABM) approach that can take each decision making of the patient, the medical institution, and the fire department into consideration. This model allows us to evaluate improvement plans, especially focusing on the hospital rotation and the facility location. This study aims to build a simulation tool to achieve a sustainable medical treatment system, an efficient use of the limited medical resource and an improvement of medical service level.