A Simulation Model for Emergency Evacuation Time and Low-Cost Improvements of a Hospital Facility Using FlexSim Healthcare: A Case Study

Proper preparation for emergency situation like: terrorist threat, flood, fire, etc., in hospital facilities, where people entrust their safeness in hands of medical and nonmedical personnel is important issue. In this paper we present the simulation model of emergency evacuation from the facility of The Voivodship Centre of Addiction Therapy in Krakow, a part of Dr Jozef Babinski Hospital in Krakow (Poland). We used FlexSim Healthcare 3D Simulation Software to find answers for following questions: how much time the evacuation will take, depending on different time frames during the day (we call them scenarios), and what kind of low-cost improvements can be made to shorten evacuation time. The use of low-cost improvements resulted in a nearly 50% reduction of the total evacuation time in each of the five analyzed scenarios. We presented in this paper the aim of the simulation model, methodology, course of research, results, and conclusions.