AUTHOR=Lam Sean Shao Wei , Pourghaderi Ahmad Reza , Abdullah Hairil Rizal , Nguyen Francis Ngoc Hoang Long , Siddiqui Fahad Javaid , Ansah John Pastor , Low Jenny G. , Matchar David Bruce , Ong Marcus Eng Hock 

TITLE=An Agile Systems Modeling Framework for Bed Resource Planning During COVID-19 Pandemic in Singapore

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Public Health

VOLUME=Volume 10 - 2022

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/public-health/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2022.714092

DOI=10.3389/fpubh.2022.714092

ISSN=2296-2565

ABSTRACT=We describe the development of a dynamic simulation framework to support agile resource planning during the COVID-19 pandemic in Singapore. The framework takes into consideration the dynamic evolution of the pandemic and rapidly evolving policies and processes to deal with the uncertain outbreak scenarios in Singapore. The model was calibrated against historical data for the Singapore COVID-19 situation. Several variants of the resource planning model were rapidly developed to adapt to the fast-changing COVID-19 situation in Singapore. The initial surge of cases in the pandemic revealed streams of new infections that arose from two distinct sources. The agility in adaptable models and robust collaborative management structure enabled the quick deployment of human and capital resources to sustain the high level of health services delivery during the COVID-19 surge. The models were able to guide the allocation of scarce healthcare bed resources and ensured system resiliency. To our knowledge, this is the first agile bed resource planning model that captured the nuanced COVID-19 response of the Singapore healthcare system.