Modeling bioterrorism preparedness with simulation in rural healthcare system

As a result of the anthrax letter incidents in 2001, concerns about terrorists' use of biological agents have increased dramatically at government state and federal levels. The problem of providing sufficient resources in a healthcare system during a widespread bioterrorist attack is important issues all hospitals encounter. The innovative computer simulation models of the overall treatment process at Lubbock area healthcare systems were developed using the professional simulation software Flexsim 2.6 to determine the total time patient stays in the system and to identify the staff requirement in order to avoid delays in treatment for a variety of hypothetical bioterrorist attack scenarios.