Webinar Wednesday

Modelling Patient Flow along Cancer Pathways using Discrete Event Simulation

28 June | 12:00-13:00

with

Amalia Gjerloev

Since the Covid-19 pandemic, healthcare systems have seen a strain on hospital resources and increased pressure to operate efficiently in order to save patient lives. Cancer services have been particularly impacted and face long waiting times following a dramatic fall in referrals at the start of the pandemic. Understanding the pandemic's impact on patient care and addressing current bottlenecks is crucial for clearing the accumulated backlog and satisfying the national performance targets.

Amalia's team developed a configurable discrete-event simulation model of cancer pathways and implemented it into a tool for use in collaboration with hospital analysts. Their approach involved strong engagement with clinicians and operational managers to identify the right model configuration and parameter values for the pathway of interest.

In this webinar, she will present their simulation tool and discuss two case studies in which they collaborated with two different London-based hospitals. In addition, Amalia will discuss how they have engaged clinicians and operational leaders, and how they addressed challenges as an early career researchers.

The OR Society are excited to announce that this year’s Simulation Workshop poster winner, Amalia Gjerloev will be taking part in our Webinar Wednesday series.

Amalia has a background in both physics and mathematics. After completing her BSc at the University of Richmond, she took time off from academia and worked at a healthcare software company for two years. There, she worked closely with several health care organizations in regards to patient movement and financial assistance. In 2020, she completed her MSc in physics at Imperial College of London with a focus on astrophysics. During her PhD, she has worked to combine her knowledge of electronic health record systems (EHRS) with operational research techniques to improve NHS services. Her research focuses on using simulation techniques to improve patient flow through cancer pathways.