title: Simulation analysis of pneumatic tube systems.
abstract: Pneumatic tube systems play an important material handling role in many hospitals. These systems are costly and complex to design and operate, yet little exists in the way of analytical methodologies for them. We present a decision support framework based on defining relevant system performance metrics, traffic analysis reporting, as well as discrete event simulation modeling. We have used this approach to analyze numerous pneumatic tubes systems in the United States and present a representative case study from a large tertiary care hospital. Our general approach can be generalized to other computer controlled hospital operational systems such as elevators, track vehicles, automatic guided vehicles, workflow enabled processes, and laboratory automation systems.
authors.affiliation: School of Business Administration, Oakland University, Rochester, Michigan, USA. isken@oakland.edu
authors.forename: Mark W
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Isken
authors.forename: Steven J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Littig
mesh_terms: D003198:Computer Simulation; D003661:Decision Support Techniques; D006750:Hospital Distribution Systems; D008421:Materials Management, Hospital / Q000379:methods*; D015146:Midwestern United States; D019982:Organizational Case Studies; D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations / Q000600:supply & distribution; D012984:Software; D013048:Specimen Handling; D013597:Systems Analysis; D014481:United States
chemical_list: D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations