Pre-Hospital Patient Dispatch Optimization Model during a Pandemic

A pandemic typically leads to a surge in patients, which strains healthcare resources and can potentially result in social unrest. Therefore, studying patient dispatch during a pandemic to optimize the utilization of available medical resources is crucial. This paper proposes a pre-hospital patient dispatch model designed to minimize travel distance. It categorizes both hospitals and patients into multiple types while modelling the patient admission process for hospitals using queuing theory. Subsequently, a case study based on the COVID-19 cases in Yangpu District, Shanghai during January-February 2020 is conducted to demonstrate the model's practicality and analyse the patient dispatch during the pandemic. The results indicated that severe and mild cases from some communities are treated at the same hospital. This aligns with real-life practices where all infected individuals are often directed to designated hospitals, a critical strategy in pandemic management. Moreover, patients in tertiary hospitals generally experience shorter waiting times compared to those in non-Tertiary hospitals. Finally, we put forward some management suggestions for the government during a pandemic based on these findings.