Welcome to MedModel

MedModel is a powerful Windows-based simulation tool for simulating and analyzing health care systems of all types and sizes. MedModel provides the perfect combination of ease-of-use and complete flexibility and power for modeling nearly any situation, and its realistic animation capabilities makes simulation come to life.

MedModel provides engineers and managers the opportunity to test new ideas for system design or improvement before committing the time and resources necessary to build or alter the actual system. MedModel focuses on issues such as resource utilization, system capacity, and capability. By modeling the important elements of a health care system, you can experiment with different operating strategies and designs to achieve the best results.

As a discrete event simulator, MedModel is intended primarily for modeling discrete patient care systems, although continuous processes can be modeled by converting bulk commodities into discrete units such as cc’s. In addition, MedModel is designed to model systems where system events occur mainly at definite points in time. Time resolution is controllable and ranges from .01 hours to .00001 seconds.

Typical applications for using MedModel include:

Facility planning
Health care policy formulation
Staffing & equipment requirements planning
Disaster planning
Managed care analysis

Use of MedModel requires only a brief orientation and virtually no programming skills. With MedModel's convenient modeling constructs and graphical user interface, model building is quick and easy. All you do is define how your particular system operates, mostly through patient movement, flow, and care plan logic. Automatic error and consistency checking help ensure each model is complete prior to simulation. During simulation, an animated representation of the system appears on the screen. After the simulation, performance measures such as resource utilization, productivity and inventory levels are tabulated and may be graphed for evaluation.

Where to Go from here

In order to use MedModel effectively, you must understand the basics of the Microsoft Windows operating environment. If you are unfamiliar with Windows you should begin by reviewing the help information. To do this, select Help from the Start menu. If you are an accomplished Windows user, you can proceed to the next step.
To begin using MedModel you must install the software. This is described in Chapter 2: Installation and Registration.
You will want to become familiar with the basic theory of model building, and review the model building scenario, which is covered in chapter 3: Planning the Model. If you are already familiar with modeling theory, or just want to jump into model building, skip to the next step.
MedModel incorporates an easy-to-use as well as intuitive user interface. Chapter 4: Modeling Environment will introduce you to the menus and options you will use to build your model.
Build your model. Chapters 5 and 6: Building the Model will propel you into model building by describing the Build menu, which gives you access to most of the tools needed to build your model.
Refer to Chapter 7: Building the Logic during the model building process to learn the logical elements that will control your model during simulation.
Run your model. See your model come to life as its animation runs. Chapter 9: Running the Model outlines the process of running a model.
View, analyze, and display the data your model collected during simulation. With this information in hand you are ready to make real-world decisions to achieve your modeling goals. Chapter 10: Reports and Graphs describes the Output Viewer, which presents you with your simulation’s data.

Training

Although the tutorial and documentation are both self contained, first-time users are strongly encouraged to seek formal training at some point before embarking on a complex modeling project. PROMODEL Corporation holds training courses on a regular basis for beginning and advanced users of PROMODEL simulation products. For details on course dates and times, or to register for the course nearest you, call our main office at (801) 223-4600 and ask for the MedModel Product Team.