simulation and optimization of the pre-hospital care system of the national university of mexico using travelling salesman problem algorithms
A hybrid methodology was developed in this project, using optimization and simulation techniques to analyze efficiency in a pre-hospital healthcare system offered by Emergency Medical Technicians (TUMs) or paramedics. This healthcare is offered in the North and South of Mexico City while students are sitting their exams for admission to the National Autonomous University of Mexico. This study presents an optimization of the routes of an ambulance in charge of serving 26 security modules installed at schools where students were attending their admission exams. This optimization is done on the basis based on algorithms used to solve the travelling-salesman problem (TSP) and simulation is used to determine the scenarios where calls for the ambulance happen with a greater occurrence probability. Furthermore, the patient's transfer route from the hospital care module is optimized with the shortest path algorithm. The pre-hospital healthcare system is formed by 11 paramedics and 5 properly equipped ambulances. Heuristic techniques were programmed with the Visual Basic 6 programming language and the simulation was executed using the Microsoft Excel.
optimization travelling salesman problem prehospital service shorthest route