Applications of Dynamic System Simulation in Health Care: A Systematic Review

The use of simulation models can help elucidate the intuitive behavior of complex health care problems. Today, the complexity of problems goes far beyond our capacity to solve them manually. System simulation is considered as a wise option by approaching structural problems and understanding the complex interactions within the problems and their changes. The purpose of this study is to review the most advanced applications of system dynamics in healthcare.

This study is a systematic selection of articles that explored the applications of system dynamics in health care in 11 databases between 1999 and 2019. The focus of this research was on articles with the keywords including system dynamics in health care, dynamic health care analysis, continuous health care simulation or dynamic health care simulation.

79 articles related to system dynamics applications in healthcare were identified in databases. Eighty-five percent of the articles focused on finance, politics, government, regulation, public health, and health care planning. Among the articles, the patient's treatment path, obesity and demand for healthcare workforce were examined.

The tendency to use continuous simulation in healthcare has increased. However, the power of hybrid simulation can take advantage of the inherent strength of the system dynamics overview perspective, and in a hybrid model it can utilize a holistic perspective for managing health care systems. Potential areas with the application of systems dynamics in future research include planning and policy-making in public health decision-making, purchasing quality management, care and risk.