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  • Staffs’ and managers’ perceptions of how and when discrete event simulation modelling can be used as a decision support in quality improvement: a focus group discussion study at two hospital settings in Sweden

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Health services research
Research
Staffs’ and managers’ perceptions of how and when discrete event simulation modelling can be used as a decision support in quality improvement: a focus group discussion study at two hospital settings in Sweden
  1. Helena Hvitfeldt-Forsberg1,
  2. Pamela Mazzocato1,
  3. Daniel Glaser1,
  4. Christina Keller2,
  5. Maria Unbeck3,6
  1. 1 Department of Learning Informatics Management and Ethics and Medical Management Center (MMC), Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
  2. 2 Department of Informatics, International Business School, Jönsköping, Sweden
  3. 3 Departments of Clinical Sciences, Danderyd Hospital, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
  4. 6 Department of Orthopedics, Danderyd Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden
  1. Correspondence to Dr. Helena Hvitfeldt-Forsberg; helena.hvitfeldt.forsberg{at}ki.se

Abstract

Objective To explore healthcare staffs’ and managers’ perceptions of how and when discrete event simulation modelling can be used as a decision support in improvement efforts.

Design Two focus group discussions were performed.

Setting Two settings were included: a rheumatology department and an orthopaedic section both situated in Sweden.

Participants Healthcare staff and managers (n=13) from the two settings.

Interventions Two workshops were performed, one at each setting. Workshops were initiated by a short introduction to simulation modelling. Results from the respective simulation model were then presented and discussed in the following focus group discussion.

Results Categories from the content analysis are presented according to the following research questions: how and when simulation modelling can assist healthcare improvement? Regarding how, the participants mentioned that simulation modelling could act as a tool for support and a way to visualise problems, potential solutions and their effects. Regarding when, simulation modelling could be used both locally and by management, as well as a pedagogical tool to develop and test innovative ideas and to involve everyone in the improvement work.

Conclusions Its potential as an information and communication tool and as an instrument for pedagogic work within healthcare improvement render a broader application and value of simulation modelling than previously reported.

  • Simulation modeling
  • healthcare improvement
  • focus group
  • rheumatology
  • orthopedic care
  • emergency care

This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2016-013869

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    Footnotes

    • Contributors HHF, PM, MU, DG and CK designed the study. HHF, PM, MU and CK collected the data. HHF, MU, PM and CK drafted the manuscript. Everyone have been involved in reading and critically revising the manuscript. All authors approved the final manuscript and are accountable for all parts of the work.

    • Funding The study was supported by grants provided by the Stockholm County Council (ALF project).

    • Disclaimer The funder had no involvement in study design, data analysis and manuscript preparation or publication decision.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Ethics approval Stockholm Ethical Review Board.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

    • Data sharing statement Extra data can be accessed via the Dryad data repository at http://datadryad.org/ with the doi:10.5061/dryad.5f5m7.