Computational Modelling Group

17th November 2009 4 p.m.  53/4025

Incorporating Human Behaviour in Healthcare Simulation Models

Prof Sally Brailsford
School of Management, University of Southampton

Submitter
Hans Fangohr

For many years, simulation has been used to evaluate the outcomes from medical interventions designed to improve patients' health. However in practice these outcomes can be greatly affected by patient behaviour. For example, patients may not complete a course of a prescribed medication because they find the side-effects unpleasant. A study designed to evaluate this medication which ignores such behavioural factors may give unreliable results. This talk discusses some of the issues involved in incorporating human factors in simulation models, and describes two models for screening for different diseases which have attempted to include behavioral factors.