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A strategy for ambulance system designs : an investigation of the ambulance system in the greater Vancouver regional district

University of British Columbia

This dissertation is a study of the effects of alternative design parameters and control policies in the planning and operation of emergency ambulance systems. The ambulance system is characterized by a sequence of events beginning with the notification of an incident and ending with the delivery of the patient to an emergency medical facility. A computer simulation model was subsequently developed and validated for the G.V.R.D. Experiments are conducted using this Simulation Model and a Local Search Algorithm which determined optimal locations to evaluate the effect of the following on system performance: number of ambulances; dispatching policies; demand rate. Results from the above experiments lead to the following recommendations: Ambulance service should be provided on a regional basis; ambulances should be located strategically to minimize response time; for a given desired level of response time, the number and location of ambulances should be different in different periods of the day; periodic review of the level and spatial distribution of demand should be made and adjustments should be made in the number and locations of ambulances; the determination of the proper response time level should be based in part on an analysis of the tradeoff between cost and response time.

Text

2010-01-21

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http://hdl.handle.net/2429/18853

Business Administration - Management Science

University of British Columbia

Graduate