Insights from a Decade of Optimizing Emergency Medical Services Across Three Major Regions in Switzerland
Prehospital care, and especially emergency medical services (EMSs), are facing an increasing demand, while experiencing financial pressure. Strategies aimed at improving prehospital care management emphasize the efficient utilization of resources, but often overlook the long-term implications for th...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2024-10-01
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| Series: | Emergency Care and Medicine |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2813-7914/1/4/36 |
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| author | Christoph Strauss Michael Schmid Daniel Kliem Martin Müller |
| author_facet | Christoph Strauss Michael Schmid Daniel Kliem Martin Müller |
| author_sort | Christoph Strauss |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Prehospital care, and especially emergency medical services (EMSs), are facing an increasing demand, while experiencing financial pressure. Strategies aimed at improving prehospital care management emphasize the efficient utilization of resources, but often overlook the long-term implications for the prehospital healthcare system, encompassing emergency medical services, emergency departments, and healthcare authorities. This paper draws on almost ten years of improvement in EMS’ key performance indicators such as response time or overtime in Switzerland, using Discrete Event Simulation. Three representative simulation studies are used to reflect on the optimization potential of alternative bases and rosters, methodological limitations, and the uptake of the derived recommendations. The results demonstrate that EMSs’ efficiency gains in resource utilization increasingly come into conflict with emergency departments’ and healthcare authorities’ policies, indicating a need to enrich Discrete Event Simulation with a systemic perspective. A new methodology that conceptualizes long-term prehospital care planning as an interdisciplinary and iterative process utilizing a novel combination of System Dynamics and Discrete Event Simulation is proposed. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-c20f51582c164ad48463eea584b3f45a |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2813-7914 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-10-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Emergency Care and Medicine |
| spelling | doaj-art-c20f51582c164ad48463eea584b3f45a2025-01-24T13:29:55ZengMDPI AGEmergency Care and Medicine2813-79142024-10-011436838110.3390/ecm1040036Insights from a Decade of Optimizing Emergency Medical Services Across Three Major Regions in SwitzerlandChristoph Strauss0Michael Schmid1Daniel Kliem2Martin Müller3Institute for Modeling and Simulation, Eastern Switzerland University of Applied Sciences, 9000 St. Gallen, SwitzerlandInstitute for Modeling and Simulation, Eastern Switzerland University of Applied Sciences, 9000 St. Gallen, SwitzerlandInstitute for Modeling and Simulation, Eastern Switzerland University of Applied Sciences, 9000 St. Gallen, SwitzerlandDepartment of Emergency Medicine, Inselspital, Bern University Hospital, University of Bern, 3010 Bern, SwitzerlandPrehospital care, and especially emergency medical services (EMSs), are facing an increasing demand, while experiencing financial pressure. Strategies aimed at improving prehospital care management emphasize the efficient utilization of resources, but often overlook the long-term implications for the prehospital healthcare system, encompassing emergency medical services, emergency departments, and healthcare authorities. This paper draws on almost ten years of improvement in EMS’ key performance indicators such as response time or overtime in Switzerland, using Discrete Event Simulation. Three representative simulation studies are used to reflect on the optimization potential of alternative bases and rosters, methodological limitations, and the uptake of the derived recommendations. The results demonstrate that EMSs’ efficiency gains in resource utilization increasingly come into conflict with emergency departments’ and healthcare authorities’ policies, indicating a need to enrich Discrete Event Simulation with a systemic perspective. A new methodology that conceptualizes long-term prehospital care planning as an interdisciplinary and iterative process utilizing a novel combination of System Dynamics and Discrete Event Simulation is proposed.https://www.mdpi.com/2813-7914/1/4/36prehospital emergency carecomputer simulationresponse timeemergency medical dispatchdiscrete event simulation |
| spellingShingle | Christoph Strauss Michael Schmid Daniel Kliem Martin Müller Insights from a Decade of Optimizing Emergency Medical Services Across Three Major Regions in Switzerland Emergency Care and Medicine prehospital emergency care computer simulation response time emergency medical dispatch discrete event simulation |
| title | Insights from a Decade of Optimizing Emergency Medical Services Across Three Major Regions in Switzerland |
| title_full | Insights from a Decade of Optimizing Emergency Medical Services Across Three Major Regions in Switzerland |
| title_fullStr | Insights from a Decade of Optimizing Emergency Medical Services Across Three Major Regions in Switzerland |
| title_full_unstemmed | Insights from a Decade of Optimizing Emergency Medical Services Across Three Major Regions in Switzerland |
| title_short | Insights from a Decade of Optimizing Emergency Medical Services Across Three Major Regions in Switzerland |
| title_sort | insights from a decade of optimizing emergency medical services across three major regions in switzerland |
| topic | prehospital emergency care computer simulation response time emergency medical dispatch discrete event simulation |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2813-7914/1/4/36 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT christophstrauss insightsfromadecadeofoptimizingemergencymedicalservicesacrossthreemajorregionsinswitzerland AT michaelschmid insightsfromadecadeofoptimizingemergencymedicalservicesacrossthreemajorregionsinswitzerland AT danielkliem insightsfromadecadeofoptimizingemergencymedicalservicesacrossthreemajorregionsinswitzerland AT martinmuller insightsfromadecadeofoptimizingemergencymedicalservicesacrossthreemajorregionsinswitzerland |