North Carolina State University, Edward P. Fitts Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Raleigh, NC.
Public Health Rep. 2014;129 Suppl 4(Suppl 4):145-53. doi: 10.1177/00333549141296S419.
Large-scale incidents such as the 2009 H1N1 outbreak, the 2011 European Escherichia coli outbreak, and Hurricane Sandy demonstrate the need for continuous improvement in emergency preparation, alert, and response systems globally. As questions relating to emergency preparedness and response continue to rise to the forefront, the field of industrial and systems engineering (ISE) emerges, as it provides sophisticated techniques that have the ability to model the system, simulate, and optimize complex systems, even under uncertainty.
We applied three ISE techniques--Markov modeling, operations research (OR) or optimization, and computer simulation--to public health emergency preparedness.
We present three models developed through a four-year partnership with stakeholders from state and local public health for effectively, efficiently, and appropriately responding to potential public health threats: (1) an OR model for optimal alerting in response to a public health event, (2) simulation models developed to respond to communicable disease events from the perspective of public health, and (3) simulation models for implementing pandemic influenza vaccination clinics representative of clinics in operation for the 2009-2010 H1N1 vaccinations in North Carolina.
The methods employed by the ISE discipline offer powerful new insights to understand and improve public health emergency preparedness and response systems. The models can be used by public health practitioners not only to inform their planning decisions but also to provide a quantitative argument to support public health decision making and investment.
大规模事件，如 2009 年 H1N1 爆发、2011 年欧洲大肠杆菌爆发和桑迪飓风，都表明全球需要不断改进应急准备、警报和响应系统。随着与应急准备和响应相关的问题不断成为焦点，工业和系统工程（ISE）领域应运而生，因为它提供了复杂的技术，能够对系统进行建模、模拟和优化复杂系统，即使在不确定的情况下也是如此。
我们将三种 ISE 技术——马尔可夫建模、运筹学（OR）或优化以及计算机仿真——应用于公共卫生应急准备中。
我们提出了三个通过与州和地方公共卫生部门的利益相关者合作四年开发的模型，以便有效地、高效地和适当地应对潜在的公共卫生威胁：（1）针对公共卫生事件的最佳警报的 OR 模型，（2）从公共卫生角度应对传染病事件的仿真模型，以及（3）模拟实施大流行性流感疫苗接种诊所的模型，代表北卡罗来纳州 2009-2010 年 H1N1 疫苗接种期间运营的诊所。
ISE 学科采用的方法为理解和改进公共卫生应急准备和响应系统提供了强大的新见解。公共卫生从业人员不仅可以利用这些模型来为他们的规划决策提供信息，还可以提供定量论据来支持公共卫生决策和投资。
