Review of modelling approaches for healthcare simulation

The goal of this paper is to present a summary description of the distinct simulation modelling methods applied to health services and discuss several internal and external determinants for selecting a particular simulation method to study a given managerial problem of the healthcare system. The presented analysis is based on the literature survey conducted during the previous study and considers four primary simulation techniques: Monte Carlo, discrete-event simulation, agent-based simulation and system dynamics. A range of internal and external factors are reviewed and characterised to determine the most suitable simulation technique for addressing a particular healthcare decision problem.