The Use of Simulation in Support of Managerial Decision Making in Hospitals

Executive decision-making for health care organizations’ managers is a process typically based on the manager’s experience and various patient data the organization serves. These decisions that executive managers make, affect the quality of care and efficiency metrics that organizations are required to maintain or improve based on standards established by the Ministry of Health. Among the factors affecting the quality of care and efficiency are various material and human resources, as well as diagnosis and treatment complexity and occurrence of nosocomial infections. Extreme events may also occur which may require additional material and human resources. Supporting the decision-making process with simulation applications may offer managers the ability to understand better the effect of their decisions and compare different outputs. While the simulations cannot replace human experience and educated intuition, it can help augment the decision process and could lead to better outcomes for patients and more efficient use of material and human resources. Lastly, simulations could allow managers to make adequate substitutions when resources are scarce without compromising the quality of care and with greater consideration of the impact of work schedule on health care workers’ burnout and exhaustion.