1. Proceedings
  2. I3M
  3. 2018
  4. IWISH
  5. 10.46354/i3m.2018.iwish.002

Benefits of automated wheelchairs in a hospital: a simulation approach

  • a Iván Castilla-Rodríguez , 
  • b Rafael Arnay , 
  • c Jonel Rodríguez  , 
  • d Raquel Rodríguez  
  • a,b,c,d Departamento de Ingeniería Informática y de Sistemas. Universidad de La Laguna. Spain
Cite as
Castilla-Rodríguez I., Arnay R., Rodríguez J., Rodríguez R. (2018). Benefits of automated wheelchairs in a hospital: a simulation approach. Proceedings of the 7th International Workshop on Innovative Simulation for Healthcare (IWISH 2018), pp. 8-13. DOI: https://doi.org/10.46354/i3m.2018.iwish.002

Abstract

Autonomous vehicles are increasingly becoming a solution to improve the functioning of the processes of many organizations and, even, society. In a hospital, there are multiple opportunities to use this type of vehicle, especially for the transport of heavy loads, but its use to take patients has not yet been sufficiently studied. In this paper, the organizational impact of replacing manual wheelchairs from the reception of a small hospital by autonomous wheelchairs is analyzed using a discrete event simulation model. The results show that automated wheelchairs benefit the hospital, both economically and in the quality of the assistance.

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