Open AccessOptimization for Locating Emergency Medical Service Facilities: A Case Study for Health Planning from China
Author(s) -
Yufan Deng,
Yumeng Zhang,
Jay Pan
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
risk management and healthcare policy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.828
H-Index - 22
ISSN - 1179-1594
DOI - 10.2147/rmhp.s304475
Subject(s) - context (archaeology) , facility location problem , population , china , geographic information system , upgrade , service (business) , genetic algorithm , emergency medical services , health facility , location model , operations research , transport engineering , business , computer science , operations management , geography , medical emergency , engineering , health services , medicine , environmental health , marketing , remote sensing , archaeology , machine learning , operating system
Rational location of emergency medical service (EMS) facilities could improve access to EMS, and thus assist in saving patients' lives and improving their health outcomes. A considerable amount of spatial optimization research has been devoted to the development of models to support location planning in the context of EMS, with extensive applications in policy making around the world. However, in China, studies on the location of EMS facilities have not been paid enough attention to, let alone their practical applications. This paper conducted location optimization for EMS facilities in Chengdu, one of the biggest cities in southwest China with more than 16.5 million population, aiming to optimize the EMS system by adding (upgrading) a minimum number of EMS facilities to achieve a given population coverage.