A management of Intensive care unit based on the system dynamics model

Nowadays the increase of the world population’s age and the progressive specialization of care techniques and processes are the main driver of demand’s increase for health services. Coping with the mismatches between the increasing demand and the limited capacity of resources, the hospital facilities are showing a more consolidated approach to re-design the existing processes through the application of Lean Manufacturing methodologies. On the other hand, the innovation’s development and implementation often degenerates in time wasting and additional costs. This article illustrates the utility of modeling and simulation processes (M&S) in a System Dynamics environment and it shows a versatile-generally-applicable model aimed at patient flow monitoring in an Intensive Care Unit (ICU). The proposed model reveals at the same time a valuable decision support tool that identifies “systemic” problems and describes the effects of the “Lean” policies in such a way as to prevent the risks and costs related to innovation processes.