This project is involved with the design and validation of dedision-support software which can be used for both short-term and long-term resource allocation decisions in the critical care area. The decisions which can be addressed by the software include the determination of bed requirements, staffing requirements, and operating room scheduling policies. The software allows a hospital to "model" itself (without programming changes) by specifying a set of tiparameters" (e. g., number of beds, arrival rates, lengths of stay) as well as a set of "policies" (e. g., what actions are to be taken under conditions of insufficient beds). A hospital can "run" the model for different values for the parameters & policies until the optimal values for that hospital are determined.Awardee's statement of the potential commercial applications of the research:As a tool for direct use by hospitals in planning and running their intensive care units.Health Care Finance Administration
